Snowbound
by cause.A.scene
Summary: How friendship and sacrafice keeps Sara and Greg alive in the snow.
1. Fearful Eyes

**Beginning Notes: **Ok guys, I'm working on my next fic. It is, of course, another angsty one, but I have decided to put two people through hell, and not just one. So, that should be fun. Um, plots like this have been done, but not as often I don't think so.. Just deal. Hopefully I will make it good enough so that you'll want to read it. But, either way I'm going to write it. Before any of you ask, the last chapter to Powerless will be up soon, I just wanted to post this real quick so I can get it started and everything.

**Warnings: **THIS IS NOT A SANDLE!! This is a Sara/Greg FRIENDSHIP! Like it or not, GSR is cannon, and I will not be going against that. However, I won't be talking much about any ship at all, because I'm not into reading or writing romance pieces, so I'm sorry. I chose Sara and Greg to go through this together because I like their dynamic together and think that they are perfect to handle tough situations together.. So.. Sorry Sandle friends. However, there might be some _language _that could be interpreted as romantic, but its not.

Ok, enough chatting. Read and review por favor!

* * *

It was one of the coldest days she could remember having in a while. In was in the lower-30s, and everywhere she went, people were bundled up in their warmest winter clothes. Of course, at this time of night and year, not as many people were out and about. Yes, Vegas was one of those cities that "never slept", but that's mainly for the die-hard club and casino-goers, most people turn in for the night around 12 AM during the off-season.

The good news was, Vegas seemed to be behaving pretty well lately, and there hadn't been too many cases. They had had the usual hit and runs, or accidental deaths, but nothing major or real complicated. Maybe it was the usually cold weather that was keeping even the criminals from leaving their homes.

The change was very welcomed after coming from a full two weeks of nonstop tough and elaborate cases. Ones where the team found themselves going in circles, everyone got in on the case to help solve it, even day shift came by to throw in their two cents.

But those cases were over now, and she could somewhat relax. However, the best part about it was, she didn't have to go outside and freeze to death. That was a definite plus.

The effects of the cold weather had made itself present throughout Vegas. There had been plenty of snow which caused minor car crashes everywhere, so traffic was horrible. And, as with any change in the season, especially the winter season, the viruses had started to spread. A good percentage of the lab was or already had been sick, but Sara felt confident she would be ok for a while, because she had got her cold at the beginning of the season. But most of the team had chosen to get sick within the last two weeks, when the crimes were happening one after the other, so the only ones left, Greg and herself, had been forced to handle the majority of the cases.

Everyone had tried to pitch in, but when Nick had to leave the room for the third time to throw up, everyone had decided that he should go home for a while. Then, you had Warrick who's coughs could cause an avalanche, Catherine was sneezing and coughing left and right, and constantly sucking on throat lozenges to ease the pain in her throat. Even Grissom had gotten sick, but he had decided to go all out a get a full blown case of the flu. He had, of course, been sent home eventually, after much convincing. Honestly, Sara was sure he had agreed to go home after he about passed out for the second time.

So, with everyone else sick, Greg and herself had been running around, doing what they could for the multiple cases, going out in the field, doing interviews; you name it. And naturally, they were exhausted.

Everyone else was about over their colds and were finally able to come back to work and help out again. Lucky for them, they got to come back to fairly easy and laid-back shifts.

But, it was ok, because Ecklie had agreed to give her and Greg the day off for being forced to work so hard the last couple of weeks to make up for the incapability's of their co-workers.

The truth was, she had kind of enjoyed working so closely with Greg. It had reminded her of when he first started and they worked together. Only this time, she didn't have much she could teach him. In fact, he becoming amazingly good. He even caught a few things that Sara had completely missed during their cases.

And the most impressive thing was, he still listened to everyone else and took their advise, even though his abilities were accelerating at a remarkable pace. Still, Sara had noticed that towards the end of their two-week crime-fighting spree, he was completely drained. She was too, of course. But she was amazed at how long he had lasted. He was still fairly new and was taking on case after case of some of the hardest cases CSI's encounter.

She smiled to herself and couldn't help but think _Our baby is growing up… _

She glanced down at her watched a sighed. Her shift was finally up. She could now run outside, get in her car, and drive home with the heater full-blast. And once she made it home, she planned on taking a hot bath to warm up before sleeping until she absolutely could stand no-more.

Her plan made her shiver with excitement.

She got out of her comfy position on the lay-out room couch and headed towards the locker room to get her things. When she rounded the corner, she stopped suddenly at the sight that greeted her.

Greg was laid out on the locker room bench with no shirt on, one leg stretched out, the other bent and planted on the floor. Both arms hung limply at his sides dangling down to the ground, but in one hand, his fingers were laced around a shirt. Sara smiled widely.

He must have been _extremely _tired to actually be able to sleep on a bench. And then, despite the heat circulating through the building, it was still cold, so the fact that he was only half dressed also amazed her.

But then again, Greg had always managed to amaze.

Sara stepped quietly into the room, careful not to wake him yet, and bent down closer to his face. He was so cute when he was asleep. Like a little baby. She didn't really want to wake him up, but she couldn't just leave him there like that. If he didn't already have a cold, then he would surely get one like this.

She carefully placed her hand on his shoulder, taking note at how warm his skin felt. She shook him lightly, not wanting him to freak out and tumble off the bench to the cold ground. After a minute, she shook a little harder, and cooed "Greg" quietly.

A second later, Sara could see his eyes moving underneath his closed eyelids, and then they opened. Sara giggled at the dazed look his eyes held as he looked up at her and then at his surroundings. It was crystal clear to Sara when he realized what was going on because she shot up, and began to rub his face.

Sara laughed out loud, then went to her own locker to go about her own business.

"How you managed that, I will never know.." she said lightly, as she opened her locker and rummaged through it.

Greg continued to rub his eyes, then looked up at her with a fake smile on.

"Yeah, that was pretty funny," he said sarcastically, but in a joking manner.

Sara just grinned again.

"It's ok. You've been working harder than me on all these cases, and I know I'm tired so you must be wiped out."

Greg nodded then stood up and retrieved his shirt that had been left on the ground.

"Yeah…"

Sara looked over at him, kind of concerned at the sound of his voice. It was slightly strained and raspy. She watched him put on his shirt, rub his eyes again, then he leaned his head onto the locker. Sara turned back to her locker.

"You feeling ok?" She asked casually, not wanting him to know she was concerned.

Greg didn't respond at first, but eventually he lifted his head off the locker's surface, and looked at her and grunted once in a kind of ironic laughter.

"Actually, I think I'm coming down with something."

Sara smiled but looked at him.

"Well, I guess it is technically your turn."

Greg grinned and turned back to his locker to finish up.

"Yeah I guess so.. But this headache is killer," he said, as he sat back down and put his face in his hands.

"I remember why I went to sleep now; this headache was killing me."

This concerned Sara a little more. This was to be expected though, in a twisted sense, it was his turn to get sick based on the fact that just about everyone else in the lab had been, and then with the way he had been working, his defense and immune system would be weak and vulnerable.

She sat down next to him and rubbed his back and frowned.

"You're really hot."

Greg looked up at her with a childish grin, though it wasn't his signature one. Sara guessed that was the result of exhaustion and pain. She smile back at him.

"Not like that. I'm serious. You got a fever?" She asked as she brought her hand up to his forehead.

Right away he moved away from her.

"Sara, I'm fine. Just tired.."

But, Sara had already gotten what she needed. He was definitely running a fever, and it wasn't a slight one. It wasn't bad, but he needed some medicine and rest.

"Shut up Greg, you're sick," Sara said, not wanting to play any of his _No, I'm fine _games. Greg stared at her, taken aback by her blunt comment.

"Put on your coat, I'm going to take you home."

Greg didn't take this order. He stood up and looked her in the eyes.

"Thanks Sara, but I can go home myself," he said in a somewhat weak and tired voice.

"I'm sure you can, but if you've got the flu, which is very possible seeing as how Grissom had it" she added when he opened his mouth to object, "then there is a possibility you could pass out like he was. Besides, I don't think you were able to fall asleep on the bench _only_ because of a bad headache. Now, don't argue with me, I'm taking you home. You can get your car later, or we can have someone drop it off at your apartment. Now, get on your coat and lets go."

Greg stood for a second, staring at her. Yeah, she was a little annoying right now, but he admired her for being so bold and to-the-point. Deep down, he knew he shouldn't be driving because he knew that he was pretty sick. Even more-so then he was allowing to show.

So, he agreed to Sara's commands, not wanting to fight. And besides, he was much too tired to drive now.

"But wait, our apartments aren't too close to each other." He said, halting as they had begun to walk out of the door.

Sara stopped as well and turned to look at him.

"So?" She responded.

"So… So it's snowing out there and no one should be driving more than they have to." Greg answered confidently. This was not an attempt to prove himself capable of driving home by himself, he was truly against the thought of Sara driving more than she had to because he was too lazy to drive home himself.

"Oh come off it, Greg. I don't mind at all. And stop trying to get rid of me. I'm taking you home, and that's final. Now lets go."

Knowing there was no point in trying to stop her, he reluctantly followed, his body starting to feel all achy. He sighed, knowing that a fever, headache, and achy body were all signs of the flu or some other annoying virus. He should have known it was coming, but after weeks of seeing everyone else get sick, he thought that maybe this year would let him off the hook. He didn't get sick much anyways, so it was a possibility. But, not anymore, because like it or not, he was getting sick.

They were about to the main door when he noticed Sara zip up her coat before exiting. Right away, he saw her body contract, trying to keep itself warm against the cold January night air. Greg followed her out the door, but found the temperature to be quite refreshing. He guessed it was the fever talking, but either way, it all felt pretty good. So, he took his time getting to the car, unlike Sara who had practically darted.

His body didn't want to go any faster anyway, so why not listen to it? He walked at a normal pace, letting the air cool his burning cheeks. Finally, Sara's car was in view, and so was Sara herself. She had removed her gloves and was looking directly at him with an angry face.

She started to mouth things and point angrily down, making it clear she wanted him to get in the car now. Greg just smiled and made his way over her vehicle and opened the door and got in.

"Why aren't you wearing your coat, Greg??!" Sara exclaimed, sounding amazingly like his mother.

"What? I am wearing a coat," he replied back while he buckled up.

"That little thing can hardly be described as a coat! Why weren't you wearing the one you have in your hand?"

Greg looked down and saw the overly sized ski jacket with the down feathers and wondered why he ever got this in the first place.

"This giant? It wasn't even that cold out there."

"Oh really? Then why are you shivering?"

This question momentarily confused him, but when he looked down, he did noticed that he was shaking. But he wasn't cold, so… just another part of the virus he was getting?

"But, I'm not cold," he said under his breath, mainly to himself, but Sara heard.

"Greg, your sick. You have a fever. Obviously, your body is cold, but your head is telling you it's not." She snapped back, sounding annoyed. Her tone distinctly reminded him of his mother again. He used to always ask her questions about science, and she would eventually get irritated when he repeatedly knew more than her.

He laughed out loud, but immediately regretted it when he saw Sara throw another concerned glance his way. He decided to keep his mouth shut and just stare out the window.

The Vegas lights against the falling white specks of snow was memorizing. He found his eyelids getting heavy, and the colors starting to blur and fade until all he could see where the tiny white dots falling from the sky and streaks of neon colors in the background. And even that disappeared as he slipped into a deep sleep.

Sara, on the other hand was wide awake, despite the fact that she should be just as tired as Greg. She was remaining so alert because the weather had seemed to intensify over the past couple of minutes. They had already left the well-lit strip and was going down another road when it became very hard to see through the snow.

Sara, not wanting to panic, continued on. She moved forward in her seat and squinted her eyes into her dark surroundings, and the only thing she knew right now was that none of it was familiar. At least, none of it was supposed to be there because Sara knew exactly what she _should _be seeing on her way to Greg's apartment.

She started to worry only a little now because it was getting more and more difficult to see, and the little that she could see was becoming less and less. She hadn't seen any real buildings or houses or anything in a while. She hadn't even seen another car in a while.

She knew that they could not keep going this way, so she looked over to the side of the road and pulled over with her emergency signals on. She looked over to Greg and was happy that he was sleeping, but she also wanted him to be awake to help her out. In the end, she decided to leave him alone, and opened the door and got out.

Her arms tightened around her as the cold night air encircled her and briefly took the air out her lungs. Once she was able to breath again, she looked around.

She began to panic more because she found that there was absolutely nothing around them. Wherever they were, there was no street lamps or houses or buildings or anything to provide extra light, and the lights from the car weren't nearly enough. And even the little that was illuminated by the few provided lights confirmed her fears: there was nothing and no one anywhere near them.

How in the world had she gotten here?

With no immediate plan and the frigid air chilling her to the bone, she got back in the car quietly. She sat for a moment, at a total loss. She considered waking up Greg again, but thought better of it.

She got them there, she could get them out.

She put the car in drive, and slowly eased forward until she found a place large enough to turn her Denali around in. Obviously, going forward was getting them nowhere, so going back the way they came had to be more productive than the alternative.

She turned the car around, then proceeded forward. The falling snow had thickened, making it even harder to see.

Where is all this bad weather coming from?!? Then she remembered watching the news briefly the other night and hearing about a large system coming through the states. She sighed, remembering how big it was and recalled herself saying that she would stay indoors when it did come.

She had now come to a fork in the road. She had no recollection of their being a fork or any turn at all. She sat staring for a moment, her hand on her head. This was really getting annoying. She looked over at Greg again, still sleeping soundly and felt jealous. Then, without knowing why, she reached over and felt his head again. It was hotter than it was earlier.

_Damn._ She needed to get him home and soon. She decided that once she knew where she was, she would just take him to either her place or his, whichever was closer, and then they would just stay there. There was no way she going to drive to two different places.

She reached over and felt his head again, and knew she needed to make a decision.

Right.

She put the car in drive once more, and headed down the right side of the road, praying it was a good choice.

She had been going down this road for close to twenty-five minutes before deciding that her choice was not only wrong, but it was dangerous as well. She wasn't exactly sure, but she felt pretty certain that whatever road she had taken was leading them up a hill or mountain. Somewhere elevated, and they were now on a narrow 2-way street.

Her heart started to beat faster as she looked around and was able to see nothing except for white specks against pitch black. She needed help.

She looked quickly over at Greg, hating the fact that she was about to wake him up, but knew she had to. She put her hand on his shoulder, the other tightly clutching the steering wheel, and shook him lightly and called his name.

Just when she saw his eyes flutter open, the car jolted causing her to slam on breaks, but the car didn't stop. They started to slip and spin on the fresh snow, and before they knew it, they were going down a very steep hill, flying up and crashing down. The two passengers were flung from side to side and the car went over things until finally, something stopped them forcefully.

Both of their heads went crashing in front of them, Sara into the wheel, Greg onto the dashboard.

Greg sat breathing heavily, his whole body in severe pain. He tired to lift his head, but found it didn't work so well. His world had become fuzzy and his head was swimming. He moved his eyes over to his left, and saw Sara in the same position, her eyes closed and a small amount of red blood coming from her head still laying on the steering wheel.

The sight apparently gave him enough energy to lift his head, though it immediately fell back to the seat and noticed that he too had blood seeping down from a head injury as well as other places on his body. However, he was now able to see what had stopped them. In front of the car, almost completely covering the front windshield was pearly white snow.

Greg tried to call Sara's name, but found his voice to be very distant. He tried again, but this time, he couldn't hear himself at all.

The last thing he saw before the blissful blackness took him over, was Sara's eyes open and look around, full of fear.

* * *

**AN**: Alrighty so, there it was. I'm pretty satisfied with it. I did look up Vegas weather and made sure it snowed and got to low enough temps, but I'm not 100 sure how much it _can _snow, nor am I positive about and hills or steep mountainsides that one could easily go over if snow and ice was a factor. You all must understand that here in Florida, it never snows. Well, I think it did in 89, but I wasn't alive. And, we are either at, or below see level (I know I know, pretty pathetic but I always forget) So.. This is all very new to me. I've never even seen snow and as far as cold weather goes, it was 86 here today.. So.. Bare with me please. Review if you can and the next one will be up eventually, but this week is going to be very busy so don't expect it too soon. Sorry. 


	2. Let's Not Blame God

I'm too tired to write anything.

I'm not a huge fan of this one, but after it, things should get going pretty good. Sorry for this dumb chapter.

* * *

Panic. It was the feeling that rushed through her veins causing her to shake uncontrollably. There was so much to take in, and it was all being forced down her throat at one time.

The first thing she needed to do was figure out where she was, and what happened to get her there. The first question was painfully obvious as she stared at the mountain for snow covering her windshield. The second part was the tricky one. It apparently was some sort of accident… Sara looked around frantically, noting that it was very dark outside the car, snow was still falling from the sky in thick amounts, and Greg.

Her heart froze as she saw the blood streaking down his face, and with that sight, everything came rushing back to her. The lab, the snow, the fork in the road, and then…

But none of that mattered at the moment because Greg sat beside her bleeding. She tried to reach over to him, but immediately stopped as pain seared through her mind and body. The sudden dosage of it startled her and she took her arm back and cradled it gingerly on her stomach. As the pain eased, she realized that her wrist was causing the discomfort. It was definitely broken, or else severely sprained.

She turned her attention back towards Greg and with a lack of any other choice, she began to call his name. Softly at first, but when he didn't wake up, she raised her voice. He apparently had a concussion, or maybe he was just knocked unconscious for a moment, but she knew that he should not be sleeping with a head injury.

It was then she noticed that her own head was hurting. Come to think of it, most of her body ached. It felt like she was one big bruise.

She looked back at Greg and noticed that he looked much too pale and remembered he had a fever.

The thought made her voice raise even more, and she became desperate for him to wake up. It was getting to the point to where she was going to have to actually do something instead of just calling, or screaming, his name. She would have to push him or something, but none of it sounding good because her arm was still throbbing.

The pounding in her head became more immanent, and she found it hard to stay focused on one thing. It seemed as if all the sleep she had ever missed was finally catching up with her.

The car was becoming unbearably cold since it would no longer crank and circulate warm air, but otherwise, Sara had been given fantastic sleeping conditions. As her thoughts began to cloud more, she abandoned her previous mission to awake Greg, and began to focus instead on the falling snow.

Not knowing how long she had been staring at the white flakes, her eyes became heavier and they seemed to remain shut longer every time she blinked. With one last look at Greg, she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

* * *

He felt so very hot. But, it wasn't exactly being _just _hot that was so unbearable, it was that odd and confusing feeling of being hot, when really one should be cold that was getting to him.

Greg chose not to delve any deeper in this thought because it was making his head hurt even more than it already was.

He had been sitting in the car with his eyes closed for at least ten minutes now. When he had woken up this time, he was not baffled or unsure of where he was, on the contrary, he knew exactly what was going on around. And with that knowledge, he knew that he should be getting up and doing something.

But it was the exhaustion and pain that kept his eyes closed, allowing him to doze in and out the stage before one fell asleep. For a while, it was enough to suffice him, but eventually the nagging voice in the back of his head convinced him to take action.

Slowly and reluctantly, he opened his eyes, but was forced to squint as the daylight came unwelcome to his eyes that had become used to the dark. Luckily, it was only the wintery kind of daylight, when the sky and everything else looks unnaturally gray, and the sun is just a faded blur. It was still not what his eyes wanted though.

He looked over at Sara and saw that blood on her head was dry and there was no fresh blood flowing, which meant there was no reason to worry a whole lot. He remembered seeing her wake up just before he went unconscious. And moreover, he knew she wasn't unconscious because she was snoring loudly. He would have laughed, but decided to save this moment for later, knowing there would come a time when they would need the laugh.

Not wanting to wake her, Greg went over the situation and possible plans quietly in his head.

First of all, he was still sick, but it didn't seem as bad as it did the last time he was awake. He was now able to think clearly and he didn't feel as hot. So, that was good. The next thing: did he have any injuries?

That was actually kind of difficult to answer due to the fact that his whole body ached. He did however decide that there were no real injuries other than being bruised and banged up, and a possible head injury. And Sara? He looked over at her and saw how she was holding her arm. It didn't look very natural. So, possibly something wrong with her arm, but there were no other _visible _injuries that he could see. He'd have to wait until she woke up to get that question completely answered though, so he moved to the next thing:

What should he do now? _Obviously_, he said coolly to himself, _you should try to get some help_.

Then he felt like a complete idiot His cell phone! _That _should have been the first thing he did. He quickly dug his hand into his pocket where he last had his phone, but came out with nothing. He did the same thing with the other pocket, and when he got the same results, began feeling a little worried.

He did have it, right?

Then, some force made him look to his feet and see a horrible sight. He phone was in two pieces and he knew there was no chance to revive it. But that didn't stop him from trying. He reached down and held it in his hands. He brought it up to his face and tried to see if there was any way to bring it back to life, but knew it had no chance. He held it gently in his hands as though it were his new born baby that had not made it.

Well, that option was out.

But Sara had to have hers, and what are the chances of both of their phones being dead? He looked over at Sara again, then remembered that she only kept her phone in her purse. He looked to the back of the Denali, and to the floorboard where he saw it.

He picked it up and began to rummage through it. It felt like a sin though; his mother had always taught him the rules when it came to women, and one of them was to stay out of a lady's purse unless he was instructed to.

But this was different.

He looked through it and started to get the same feeling he had gotten when he had found his pockets empty.

Her phone wasn't in there.

He gave that up, knowing there was still a possibility that she had it and that it worked, but he was still against waking her up, and there were other things he could be doing right now.

But what?

He looked around him and decided it was time to get out and look around. For all they knew, there could be a house around the corner, or even a small town.

He gathered some strength, and opened the car door with great difficulty. The harsh beating it had received only hours ago and taken it's toll on the Denali, and so he had to push hard to get it to open.

When he did, cold air immediately rushed in. Of course, it wasn't too bad for him, seeing as how he still had a fever, but it would not be comfortable for Sara. Trying not to discomfort her any longer than needed, he jumped out of the car, and landed in the snow.

Apparently, he had gotten more hurt than he had initially thought. He laid in the snow, aching from head to toe. So much, he barely even realized how saturated he was becoming from the snow.

Once he recovered, he shut the door quietly, and did his best to stand up. This too was no walk in the park. He leaned heavily on the side of the car, inching his way up. Once standing, he felt very woozy, which he suspected was an effect of the head injury he had and the cold. Luckily, it passed fairly quickly.

Still leaning on the Denali, Greg looked around.

It looked exactly like any other desert one would find in Nevada, only it was covered with white snow. It was simply vast when he looked the opposite way of the mountain. And, to either side of him, it looked about the same. There was absolutely no sign of anything in either direction, and although this was discouraging, he had honestly expected it.

He took a few painful steps forward, trudging through the snow that was almost to his knees and looked up. Wherever they had come from was very high up there, and there was no way to see what was going on at the top.

So really, if Sara's phone was not an option, and no one discovered they had an accident and ended up here, then they would have to walk to get help, right? And obviously, if it did come to that, they would stay along the side of the mountain or cliff or whatever it was because there was nothing in front of them for miles and miles.

Greg looked to his sides again, seeing that both his left and his right were almost identical. He really hoped that they weren't forced to walk, because given their luck, they would choose the wrong way , or at least the longer way, or maybe even the more dangerous way.

Or maybe all three..

He scolded himself for being so negative. That was simply not allowed; it couldn't be allowed. They needed hope and optimism to get out of this one.

He removed his hand from the Denali, taking away his support, and continued to trudge through the snow. He figured that if he got a little further away from the cliff, he may be able to see on top of it.

As he made his way slowly further from the car and Sara, he felt his feet go numb and start tingling painfully. He would need to keep this walk short. But that caused him to realize another major problem that would exist if they indeed would resort to walking for help: frost bite.

Greg bit his lip against the cold air rushing at him. Fever or no fever, he mixture of the snow and wind was chilling him. Then he thought about what Sara had said. About him _feeling _warm, when really he was actually cold.

Maybe he should start getting back.

A few yards away, Sara, still sitting rather comfortably in her driver's seat was waking up. Her head and wrist throbbed dully, and she remembered why.

Against her closed eyelids, she noticed light from outside. Not very bright, but it was definitely morning.

But something wasn't right. Her tired mind seemed to know that something should be going on right now, but it wasn't. Sara searched her brain for it, then knew exactly what wasn't right. Greg.

Her eyelids snapped open and her head turned quickly to the passenger seat that was empty. Her mind went crazy with wonder, and she began to fear the worst, though she wasn't sure why. Obviously, he had been able to get out of the car.

She sat up straighter in her seat, her wrist objecting to the slight movement, and saw Greg's dark outline against all the white. He seemed to be walking towards her, but he was still a good ways away.

Rage filled her.

_What is he thinking being out in the cold like that with him being as sick as he is_, she thought angrily.

She had every intention of getting out of that car and scolding him, but her body protested. She was still tired and bruised, but none-the-less wanted to get onto Greg.

_What am I now, his mother? _

_Well, he apparently needs someone to tell him that sick people should not go out in cold air! _She shot back defensively to herself.

Greg was now getting closer and Sara could see him clearer. He looked about as white as the snow around him, and pain was evident on his face as well as his body and he pushed through the deep snow.

This sight made her feel split. It made a part of her want to yell at him more for being so stupid, the other part was only focused on making him feel better.

He was now only feet from the car, and he could see her staring at him with a pissed look. He had been hoping that he would make it back before she woke up, but oh well.

He was elated when he reached the car. The short walk and done damage on his already weak body. He was visibly trembling, he felt that could sleep even if he was placed at the foot of a hungry bear, and his body ached so bad he was starting to feel sick to his stomach.

Or maybe that was just a part of the sickness.

He tugged at the door until it finally opened, and was immediately greeted by Sara's outraged voice.

"GREG! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Greg took his seat and quickly shut the door. He just leaned his head back against the head rest and relaxed his throbbing body. His chest rose and fell quickly and he allowed himself to catch his breath. Once satisfied, he turned back to Sara.

"G'morning to you too, dear," he said breathlessly.

This only seemed to get Sara into more of a tizzy.

"Greg, you're getting sicker, we really can't have that especially if…" her tone quieted and she trailed off.

Greg looked at her, suddenly feeling bad for getting her so worked up.

"I'm sorry, but listen to me, we won't be out her long, ok?"

He hoped that was true. Of course, they could be out there for a pretty good while, but he felt fairly certain they would eventually be found. Preferably alive.

Sara nodded and silence ensued until Greg remembered the phone.

"Sara," he said quickly breaking the silence and causing Sara to jump. "Do you have your cell phone?"

Sara's face lit up and began to look around her frantically.

"It's uh.. Not in your purse," Greg said as she continued to scan the backseat.

She looked up at him.

"Are, are you sure?"

Greg nodded solemnly. So maybe there was another option gone. Their only good option. Because the next ones consisted of hoping someone found them, or else walking and hoping to find someone or something.

"And it would only be in your purse?" Greg asked, but deep down he knew that she didn't have the phone at all.

Sara thought back desperately, trying to see if she remembered putting it somewhere else. Then she remembered that sometime last night, she had transferred it into her pocket before she sat on the couch…

_No…_

She thrust her hands into her pockets and was horrified when she felt nothing.

"It… it must have fallen out on the couch…" she said, almost as if she were in some sort of daze.

Greg looked away, disappointed that both of them had managed to remove cell phones from their list of possible saviors, but when he looked back at Sara, his features changed completely. She looked so upset. There were no tears, but she was clearly not doing so well.

"Sara, its ok. We'll find a way out."

Sara shook her head and began to talk, but never looked Greg in the eye.

"I.. I wreck the car and then I leave my phone at the lab. God, how could all this happen?"

Then, the tears came.

Greg jumped into action.

"Sara, don't you dare think this is your fault at all, got it? Like I said, we'll get out of here."

"We're here because of me!" Sara shouted, tears falling down her face, congregating around her cold red nose.

"Really? Well I could say we're here because of me," Greg countered back, feeling clever.

Sara brought her head up at looked at him with a questioning look on her face.

"How," she said skeptically through her tears.

"Well, you only got lost because you had to take me home…" Greg said smiling.

"Yeah, but.." Sara began, but Greg cut her off.

"No buts. We could blame so many different people about this, including God himself, but there's no use because no one is to blame. Besides, let's not blame God because will probably need his help later. Now, if you're done feeling sorry for yourself and things you shouldn't be feeling sorry for, then I'll tell you my plan."

* * *

Review please. Hopefully next one will be out sometime this weekend. Love ya loves. 


	3. We'll Give Left a Turn

**AN: **I did it. Got another one out, so I'm very happy about that. Um, my main note is to tell you guys I've decided to say what day it is. Like, I should have said **Day 1 **in my last chapter, but I didn't think about it, so this chapter starts out with day one (when they woke up after the crash) and you'll see where it goes into Day Two. I'll be doing that from now on so that it isn't so confusing for both you and I.

Oh, and a lot of times, I'll go back and forth between them in the rest of the team, but not in this story. The stars of the fic are out there alone, so I want you guys to feel alone with them. Of course, you'll see the team at the end, but sorry for anyone who was hoping to see the others throughout the fic, as I usually do.

**Thanks: **To all who have commented or favorited this or alerted this fic. I appreciate it. And to whoever asked for something bad to happen: hold on to your horsies. I _am _an angst writer after all...

**Disclaimer: **Own nothing sadly enough.

Alrighty, happy reading!

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Sara stared at him, wondering what in the world he could have up his sleeve for this situation. 

"Plan?"

"Yes, plan. Well," Greg paused and looked away from her. "well not a plan exactly, but… well if your phone is definitely not here, and mine is completely dead, then we'll probably have to walk…"

"That's no plan Greg, that's suicide." She said, shaking her head.

This was a disaster. Why couldn't she have just had her phone? Greg had his, it was just broke during the car accident that _she _caused.

"Then what do you propose, Sara?" Greg said. He was not bitter, just exasperated and clueless and as worried as Sara was. But what other choice did they have?

"I… I don't know Greg. Maybe… maybe someone will find us or.."

Sara did not complete her sentence, and Greg just looked down at his lap. They both knew that that was a fool's hope. There was a very good chance that the road they had come off of was blocked now, or possible people just knew not to go down that road when the weather was bad.

"Sara.." He started.

"No.. no we just can't Greg. You, your sick and… and we just cant."

They sat in silence, thinking deeply, though not really wanting to. They knew that they needed to do something, and soon. But it was such a risk. So much could go wrong; but on the other hand, they could possibly find a way out of this situation fairly easy.

"Sara, I know that… that this could end up bad, but what if there's something out there?"

Sara sighed, knowing he was right.

"I know, I know. But what if there isn't anything out there, and we just put ourselves out there like that?"

She was right. What if that did happen? What if they walked for hours in the wrong direction and didn't find anything?

"Ok well, what if I go alone? I mean, I'd only walk for a little while and if I didn't see anything, then I'd come back." Sara said, thinking it could work, though not really wanting to do that at all.

She didn't want to be out here at all, but the thought of being alone scared her to death. But Greg didn't seem to even consider that as a possibility at all. He shook his head quickly.

"No. No, there's no way. That's the worst thing we could do. Split up. We can't"

"I know, Greg, but like I said, you are sick. Being out there will only make it worse. I mean, you're bad enough as it is now, think if you got out there with your immune system already crap. You'll get bronchitis or… or God only knows what!"

She was getting a bit hysterical now, and Greg didn't blame her. The situation they had landed themselves in was not a good one, and the options they had were all around risky.

"Ok," Greg said in a low voice. "We could wait here for the rest of the night. It has to be around 4 o'clock already. It would be dumb to leave now, because if we don't find anything, we'll be stuck out there at night… so…"

Sara nodded.

"Someone will find us eventually.." Sara reasoned pathetically, knowing herself that it was not much to hope for.

"Well, we'll give them until tomorrow."

After that, they sat in silence, both feeling horrible, both deep in their own thoughts.

Sara felt dreadful. She tried not to think, tried to just relax, but those pesky thoughts just kept making their way into her mind. She couldn't bare them. It _was_ her fault, wasn't it? She could have stopped and waited, or woke up Greg for his opinion. Surely he would have had some sense and wouldn't have landed them here.

_Man, how could she be so stupid?_

Greg, on the other hand, was thinking more about the future. The cold and snow was no stranger to him. He had spent many years of his life in New York, so he was used it. Of course, he had spent the most recent years of his life in the desert, but he still knew the secrets of the cold. Knew ways to stay warm; and there was a good possibility they had some of those needed supplies in the car now.

But, he would worry about that later.

He stole a glance at Sara, and noticed how upset she looked. Yes, she had reason to of course, but her features were worrying him. Then he looked at her arm and remembered how he wanted to ask her about that.

"Is your arm ok?" He asked, slicing through the silence that had filled the car.

Sara looked down at her arm still cradled in her lap, then turned to Greg.

"I think it might be broken or something. But its ok though…" she answered distantly.

Greg decided not to pursue her behavior, assuming it was just shock she was still going through and it would pass eventually.

He relaxed his head again, and closed his eyes.

Sara felt bad still, but it occurred to her that she was very hungry. She hadn't eaten a thing the entire day, and hadn't eaten a whole lot the day before. And she knew the same was true for Greg. In fact, she didn't think he had eaten anything at all the day before.

"I think I might have some cookies or bags of chips or something in the back," she said quietly.

Greg nodded.

"That's a good idea."

Sara tried to stop him as he prepared to leave the car again, but he was going to go regardless of what she did. Besides, she only had one good hand. He pushed open the door again, and went around to the back. When he opened the door to the trunk, his eyes widened.

There on the floor was some extra clothes, including a coat, as well as a blanket and of course Sara's kit, which he knew he would put into great use later if it was needed. Then, over in the corner he saw a bag of little snack foods, and felt elated.

He scooped up the blankets and clothes, and grabbed the bag of food and went back up to the front where he saw Sara sitting looking angry.

As he sat down and closed the car door quickly, he heard her sigh.

"You can be so stubborn," she said quietly, but there was a hint of a smile as she spoke.

Greg just unloaded his arms, and Sara became excited at the sight of the extra clothing and the blanket. But what about the food.

"Did you find the food?"

Greg didn't say anything, just nodded and placed the bag on her lap.

"Don't eat a lot, just in case.." he warned, knowing that she didn't want to hear things like that, neither did he for that matter, but it was true. They would need to be careful as long as they knew there was a possibility they could be out here alone more than just the one day.

Sara nodded and shifted through the bag with her good hand. She found something she wanted and took it out. It was just a bag of sour-cream and onion chips, but it sounded so good.

But, how was she going to open it?

She tried to do it one-handed, but it was just a joke. Eventually, Greg became aware that the bag was still crinkling loudly, but no sounds of crunching came. He turned to Sara to see her struggling with the bag, and smiled a little.

She would rather do that than just ask for help.

Without speaking, he reached over and took the bag from her, and opened it with practically no effort, then placed it back on her lap.

She gave him a look, but thanked him.

She watched as he balled up one of her shirts he had found in the back and used it as a pillow against the car door and shut his eyes. This worried her.

"Aren't you hungry?"

Greg didn't lift is head, or even open his eyes, just made a face telling her that he wasn't hungry.

"But Greg, you need to eat. You haven't eaten all day, and I hardly saw you eat yesterday."

He just shrugged and kept his head down. Before she knew it, she could hear him breathing deeply and evenly, making it clear he was asleep.

She reached over again and felt his head. She drew her hand back quickly at it's warmth.

He _really _should not be out here.

She finished her bag of chips and tried to ignore her thirst. Every now and then, she would look over to Greg, only to find him in the same exact position as before, still asleep.

The sun was beginning to set now, casting a dull orange gaze on the white snow. It was beautiful. She knew she would have really enjoyed if it she wasn't praying for someone to find them.

She sighed, and had the feeling that they would end up walking tomorrow, so figured she should also join Greg and get some sleep.

Slowly but surely, she drifted off.

* * *

**Day 2**

Greg woke up bright and early the next day, feeling absolutely horrible. Every bit of him ached more than it had before and his stomach churned painfully. The thought of food made him want to puke. Then, his throat felt like it was on fire, his head was about to explode and he was congested beyond all reason.

And, on top of everything else, no one had found them, so they would be adventuring off into that cold winter "wonderland" soon enough. Greg sighed and tried to go back to sleep, but it wasn't working at all.

He looked over at Sara who looked very funny when she slept. She seemed to be very comfortable for a woman with a possible broken wrist in a freezing cold car.

Greg looked away from her, and started to think about his secrets to stay warm again, trying to figure out which ones would work here given the supplies they had.

He had no idea how long he sat there thinking and going over what they would do, but finally Sara woke up, looking a little confused at first. Greg just threw a tired half-smile her way and watched as she discovered where she was and the fact that no one had discovered them.

She frowned upon realizing that they would be going outside of the car today. She just laid her head back and closed her eyes. She then noticed that her wrist wasn't hurting so bad anymore. It was still sore, but she could move it now, which meant it wasn't broken!

"When do we leave," she asked in a monotone.

"Soon," Greg replied with a scratchy voice, "but we have to get ready first."

Sara looked at him questionably so he swallowed against his aching throat and went over his newly formed plan.

"The only way we can go to have any hope of finding something would be right or left. Which means there's a possibility that we could choose the wrong way, if there is a right way at all." Sara basically knew all of this, but she could tell that he was getting worse with his illness because he sounded and looked worse. His voice was raspy and she could tell it was hurting him. His face was a grayish color and his eyes seemed puffy and sunken.

She was really getting worried about him.

"So, we walk for a good portion of the day in either direction, and if we still see nothing, and hear nothing, then we'll come back to the car."

Sara nodded, thinking this was a fairly good plan. They did need to go out there and see if there was anything out there that could help them, but if it ended up that there was nothing, they would need a place to stay over night.

"Alright. What do we do now?"

"We get ready. I'll be right back," he said and got out of the car, ignoring Sara's protests and returned with her kit in his hand.

He opened it up and stared at its contents for a few seconds, but eventually pulled out her evidence bags. Sara wondered what he was planning on doing with them, but he put them back down and began to talk.

"First thing is a lot of layers, but that's pretty obvious."

They looked at the heap of clothes that had been found in Sara's trunk. It consisted of some of her shirts and pants, and then of course the blanket. Sara looked back up to him, wondering how they were going to do this.

"Well," Greg spoke up, still eyeing the clothing, "I can't fit into your clothes, you so take them. Put as many on as you can, even the pants."

Sara nodded, but before beginning, she asked him something else.

"What about you?"

"I'll just wrap the blanket around me. You know I'm not that cold out here anyway, and then I have my two jackets here, so I'll be fine."

She nodded again and removed her coat so that she could put the shirts on easier. The removal of the coat brought the sudden wave of chill to her body and she started to tremble. Once the three shirts were on top of her already existing shirt, she did feel warmer, but terribly uncomfortable. She quickly put the coat back on and marveled at how much warmer she felt. She slipped on her one pair of extra pants, struggling because they were pretty tight, but once they were on, her legs warmed up as well.

She finished and looked over at Greg, who was looking through her kit again. He looked up t her and grinned.

"You look like a plum."

She smile back sarcastically.

"Second thing: Frostbite is a major issue, so we have to cover up our feet as much as possible," he continued, and passed her two of the bags.

She looked at them, then back to Greg, unsure of what exactly he wanted her to do.

"Take off your shoes and put them over your socks. It will help get the moisture out," Greg said as he began to take his own shoes off.

Sara raised her eyebrows. She had never thought of that and it was a pretty good idea.

Greg finished and tired up his shoes again, then looked over to Sara and frowned. Her shoes were more of a cloth kind that would definitely make it easier to get frostbite with. But the bag would help some, and hopefully they wouldn't be out there long anyway.

He pulled out a little tube of chapstick and smiled.

"This won't do a whole lot of good after a while, but it'll help for a little bit," he said and gave her the bottle.

She put it on, and gave it back to Greg so he could apply some as well. He would definitely need to because he couldn't really breathe through his nose so his lips would chap and crack much quicker than hers would.

"Alright, well… I think that's about it," he said and looked Sara in the eye. "We bring the kit and the food of course and we'll probably need a way to tell time so we know when to turn back."

"What about your iPod? Doesn't it tell time," she asked, and he nodded and reached into his back pocket and got it and checked the time.

"Ok, its seven now, we should probably turn back somewhere around one or two."

Sara agreed, but hoped that they wouldn't have to be out there that long.

"So, if we end up turning back around two, we'll probably get back to the car sometime after nine."

Sara shook her head suddenly.

"We can't come back that late, Greg. It gets extremely cold at night."

"But we won't do much if we turn back a lot earlier."

"True, but we'll be able to see ahead quite a bit, so at 12:30 or even 1, if we don't see anything promising ahead, we'll turn back then."

Greg nodded, knowing that she was right.

"Deal. So, you ready?" He asked.

Sara took a deep breath and nodded.

"Ok then, lets go." Greg opened his door, and Sara did the same, and they both stepped out into the snow that had deepened over night.

Sara staggered at first because she hadn't been out of the Denali since the crash so she was pretty stiff. Then, the deep snow was seeping through her two layers of pants, but her feet felt ok for the time being, so that was better than nothing. They made their way to the front of the car and stood their together, knowing they had forgotten one important detail during their planning.

"Which way?" Sara asked, looking back and forth from the left to the right, noting at how similar they looked.

"Which way did you turn on that fork in the road last night?"

"Right," she replied.

"Then we'll give left a turn."

Sara with the food in one hand, and Greg held the kit, they began their journey, hoping that it was a good choice.

* * *

**AN: **Alrighty. There it is. Next one will be out eventually, though it could be as long as next weekend. But maybe not because I write some here and there and if I get it finished, then I'll post it before the weekend. 

Comment pretty please. Tanks.


	4. I Can't Feel Them

**Randomness: **AGH! Don't kill me! I'm so sorry for the wait. Darn life for the getting in the way! Although, we are lucky to still have life with all those tornadoes that hit the other day (Florida is great, but we have our share of bad weather.) More about that later.

**AN: **Right now, I just want to apologize for the wait, and as you can see, this is a long one. And after this, things get real juicy (especially for Greggy.) This one is actually more about Sara I guess you could say, but after this, there won't be a whole lot more of her or a little while. Haha, you'll see what I mean later.

**Thanks: **To everyone who is still going to read and to anyone who has commented. I swear, that makes me want to write more because I know there are people wanting me to so.. Just keep that in mind.

**Disclaimer**: don't own nothing sadly enough.

**Enjoy!

* * *

**

Greg remained a few steps in front of her at all times. It wasn't for any particular reason other than he was simply faster. He would occasionally turn back to look at her, making sure she was still ok and not too far behind. A couple of times he had slowed down to keep the distance between them minimal.

He just wanted to make sure that there wasn't any surprises anywhere, though he didn't expect any. But, better safe than sorry. And if something did happen, it would be best for it to happen to him because he was in worse shape, and would therefore not be a whole lot of help, whereas Sara would have a better chance at getting somewhere.

He continued on, the snow almost up to his knees. He wondered why it was so bad this year, remembering that when it did snow, it usually wasn't a whole lot.

But maybe that was just up in the populated areas. Here, there wasn't any reason to get rid of the snow, no roads or buildings or anything, so it could all build up.

And he also vaguely remembered the news saying something about this being an extremely rare winter season for Vegas, and the nation in general.

Either way, they were stuck out here and needed to get out, so he kept going.

They hadn't gone very far and could still see the Denali from where they were. However, the last time he looked back, he noticed that it was getting very difficult to see the car because of the blanket of snow covering it. That, and all the snow surrounding it made it blend in.

And if it continued to snow like this, and the sky looked more than willing, it would eventually make the car extremely difficult to see.

But, hopefully they wouldn't need to see it, because if everything worked out, they wouldn't be coming back to it. He decided to hold on to that thought instead.

The good news was, he still wasn't cold. Of course, that could be considered bad news seeing as how he should be freezing, but he wasn't and decided to see that as a good thing. Other than that, he was hurting beyond all reason.

He had tried to tune it out, and try not to focus on the exhaustion and pain his body was experiencing, and just focus on pushing his saturated legs through the snow. And also made a note to continue to check on Sara.

He turned around as subtly as possible, and saw her still walking steadily, though her head was down against the strong icy wind.

He secretly wished that he could pick her up and put her next to a warm fire, hot cocoa in her hand and they could just talk about things. But, he couldn't do that.

He looked forward again, and saw nothing but snow and more snow.

* * *

She was freezing!

No, she was _frozen. _She wasn't in pain exactly, but she was very cold and the frigid air pushing against her in combination with the icy liquid seeping through her layer of jeans had her frozen to the bones.

All she could do was lower her head in attempt to keep the wind and snow off her face, and occasionally look up to make sure that she was still behind Greg.

She had seen him look back at her a couple of times, although she could tell he was trying to be inconspicuous about it. And it was no wonder why.

She knew him pretty well by now, well enough to know that he cared about his friends more than just about anything, but wasn't too showy about it. She also knew that he was a secret worrier. He never showed many signs of being worried or actually said anything that would make his sound concerned, but he was.

Which, she found to be ironically funny in this case, because she was really worried about him.

It was no doubt that he was sick, and it was also becoming obvious that he was getting worse. Whenever she had looked up to make sure she was still with him, she had noted at how he was walking. And each time she looked up, he was a little different than before.

At first, he had started off pretty steady, walking almost normally. Actually, he was doing really well for someone walking in deep snow. But the last few times she had looked up, she noticed that his pace had slowed and he was becoming visibly wobbly.

His steps were no longer even, and he was just barely getting his feet completely out of the snow when he took steps. That wasn't too alarming because of how deep the snow was, but when they first started, he had gotten them out.

She lowered her head again after the wind chill became too much, and began to think.

She had never had much experience with snow growing up in California. And even living out here didn't give much snow. It was a _desert _after all. So, she wasn't real sure of all the problems that came with snow and cold weather in general.

There was the most obvious, of course, being hypothermia, which she knew was a possibility one of them, possibly both of them would end up having, and knew that it could be a very serious problem.

The other was frostnip and frostbite. This possibility was actually worrying her more than the hypothermia.

She remembered the look Greg had had when he had seen her shoes back in the car and she knew herself that her shoes weren't good for trudging through snow. Yes, their thick cotton was able to keep her feet warm against the cold, but they lost all meaning when they were wet.

She shook her head, not wanting to think about getting frostbite.

She looked up and saw Greg, less steady than before, and decided it was time to talk to him.

"Hey Greg!" She called out through the wind.

Greg slowly came to a stop and turned to her but said nothing. Sara continued to walk until she was right in front of him.

She grimaced at the sight of him. He actually wasn't much different than before, but his lips were badly chapped and his nose and cheeks bright read against his unnaturally pale face.

"Are… are you ok?" She asked uncertainly.

He just nodded, and then looked towards the direction they had been walking.

"Greg.. Maybe we should turn back now. What time is it?"

He looked uncertain, but reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out his iPod.

She then saw his mouth move, but didn't hear any words. The wind wasn't any louder than before, but she could still hear it, which meant she definitely wasn't suddenly deaf.

She shot him a questioning look, and noticed that he looked confused himself. He coughed one good time, then took a deep breath and tried again.

"E…eleven… forty-five." He grunted out. His voice was horribly rough and after he said it, he screwed his eyes shut, apparently against a fair amount of pain that had just hit him.

He was really starting to worry her bad now.

"Greg… its close enough. Maybe we should turn back"

Greg looked at her, and then ahead of him. He was trying to decide what to do. The fact was, her proposition sounded very inviting right now since his body was so wanting to rest, but on the other hand, they could be so close to something.

But then it occurred to him that she was probably only wanting to turn back because of him. Yes, she looked cold, but other than that, she still seemed strong. He, on the other hand, must have looked as bad as he felt, maybe even, God forbid, worse than he felt.

What if she wanted to continue a little longer, but only wanted to turn back because he was sick? He didn't want that at all.

"Are you sure? There… there m..might be something up… there."

Sara shook her head.

"I don't know, Greg," she shouted loud enough so that he could hear her. "But, you… you look really bad and I'm cold and I don't really see anything yet…"

So she did want to turn back mainly for him.

He shook his head.

"Why don't we give it… th…thirty more minutes…"

That wasn't too long from then and it was about the time they had originally decided to turn back. And besides, it looked as though a corner of the mountain was coming up, which meant that they could possibly see around it. Meaning, they might see something worth seeing!

Sara didn't look so certain though.

"I don't know… are you sure? I mean, you are already sick and… hypothermia..?"

Greg stopped her.

"Twelve fifteen. That's… it. Ok?"

Sara hesitated for a moment, but then looked ahead and saw the corner of the cliff. She looked back towards Greg, and felt unsure.

"O… ok."

Greg nodded and then immediately started walking again.

It couldn't be too much worse, could it? It was only thirty minutes and there was hope that they could see around the side so.. It was probably all worth it. In fact, they would probably make it to the corner before thirty minutes and if they didn't see anything, they could go ahead and turn back then.

After she thought this, she felt confused. Was she actually hoping that they didn't see anything? Surely not. Of course, it wouldn't be real good if they saw something, but it was a really far away. That would only mean more walking.

But, that would at least make her feel better, right?

Ugh, it was all too confusing.

Greg wasn't really thinking about that though. He wasn't really thinking about much at all, because thinking had become a bit of a challenge recently.

Of course, it was always hard to think clearly when your sick and your head is pounding, but it had gotten even more difficult about two hours into their walk.

The only thing he was making himself think about was getting to that corner. In the back of his mind, he pleaded and prayed that there was something there. Anything that could help them. Because, somewhere in the back of his mind, he was scared.

Not just about being alone in this terribly cold climate, but he knew all too well how evil the cold could be. He remembered one time when he lived in New York and he went to a more rural area and went sledding with some friends how horrible the snow could make a person feel.

In fact, one of his friends had ended up with mild hypothermia, which had been pretty scary.

They were now only yards from the corner, and Greg felt his stomach hurting with anticipation. This could mean everything.

He got up closer, and closer and was able to see around it a little already, and couldn't see anything yet. But he tightly held onto hope.

Until he reached the corner and saw what he had been fearing the most:

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing but a vast sea of white. In every direction no less.

There was nothing out this way. Nothing but more walking.

He felt something inside of him collapse. And at that point, the cold and the pain got to him. He couldn't take his eyes off of his failure.

He felt slight pressure on his shoulder, and turned to see Sara.

She too looked disappointed, but not nearly as much as him.

He felt so bad, it was him after all to suggest going left. He saw her red nose and cheeks and couldn't help but feel partly responsible.

Sara, with her hand still on his shoulder, turned him around, and without speaking, they began to walk the same way they had just come from.

He wasn't putting much energy in his step anymore, which allowed Sara to be about even when walking with him.

Luckily, the falling snow wasn't heavy, which meant that they could still see their track, and once they got to a certain point, they could be able to see the car and wouldn't need to see their tracks, so that wasn't really a problem.

They continued to walk silently, not really having much to say anyway.

Their pace was much slower now, the cold and exhaustion setting in for both of them, and then Greg's cough and throat had been getting worse. And he was more unstable than ever.

Sara decided not to say anything, at least not yet. She told herself that if worse came to worse, she would find a way to carry him, or pull him if she had to, but there was no way she was going to allow him to stay out here alone and undoubtedly die as well.

But she didn't even want to think about things like that.

And actually, there was something else that had been catching her attention as they continued to walk through the snow: her feet.

They felt really weird. In fact, she could barely feel them at all. For a while, she had tried not to think about it, but after about an hour or two since they were forced to turn back, it had been becoming more and more noticeable.

She was now getting worried. She could not feel her feet anymore and was having the hardest time walking. It was the oddest feeling taking steps but never feeling yourself actually make contact with the ground.

She was now falling behind Greg just barely, and was beginning to panic.

This wasn't right.

She didn't want to say anything to Greg because it looked as though he was having a hard time himself, but it was getting close to impossible to walk and she was tripping and stumbling now. Finally, Greg looked back and noticed her distress.

He just stopped and looked at her. She could tell he was really out of it, and was just able to walk off what little bit of adrenaline was left.

Sara stopped as well, and tried her hardest to remain standing. She let the bag of food fall to the ground beside her and found that it was too hard to stand and began to fall over herself.

Suddenly, Greg's arms wrapped around her, keeping her body from falling completely to the snow, but she could tell he was having a really hard time, so she tried to stand back up.

She managed, but she had to rely on Greg's help to stay standing.

She looked at him.

"Frostbite?" He asked quietly, barely audible. It seemed as though he had been expecting it.

"I… I don't know.." She could feel her eyes brimming with tears, though they didn't fall.

Greg walked her over to the side of the cliff, letting her basically put all of her weight on him. She marveled at his ability given his current condition.

He brushed off as much snow as he could from a rock, then placed his blanket down on top of it, and led Sara over to it.

She tried to protest at this, knowing that he already had too little protection from the cold, but she didn't have much in her to fight it off. She ended up sitting down on the blanket while Greg went to work.

He didn't say anything, but quickly began to take off her one of her shoes.

She wasn't very sure if this was the right thing to be doing, but he did have more experience and knowledge with this type of thing.

The truth was, he also wasn't very sure that he should be removing her protection if there is in fact frostbite, but he needed to make sure that it was frostbite before taking any steps.

The shoe was now off and he was working on the bag. When he managed to get the sock off, he grimaced at the site.

Her foot was discolored.

"Do… you.. Have pain?" He chocked out, his throat unbearably soar and his face so chapped that he could barely move it to get the words out.

Sara shook her head.

"I… I can't feel them.."

Greg shook his head then looked down at her feet. This was the beginning to frostbite. The good news was, that there was no permanent damage yet, but if she continued to expose herself to the wet snow, the frostbite would only get worse, and possibly become very damaging.

He knew exactly what needed to be done if he wanted there to be a chance of her being able to keep her ability to walk. There was a chance of course that they would make it there before it got _that _bad, but it was too much of a risk.

He had personally known someone to lose a good portion of their feet due to frostbite, along with their ability to walk. There was no way he could risk that happening to Sara. That would mean possibly losing her job. At least, definitely as a field investigator.

The only problem was, he wasn't sure how he was going to this. The first few steps were easy, but the major form of protection against frostbite is keeping her feet out of the snow, which was going to be a problem.

He decided to worry about that in a minute, knowing that it was getting darker and they would need to get back at it very soon.

He began working on getting the other shoe off without hurting her foot.

"Greg… what?" He heard Sara asked quietly.

He continued to work, but also tried to tell her what was going on.

"You are getting frostbite." He said simply, only stopping briefly to look her in the eyes, feeling it was appropriate.

"Oh God… Well… well what are you doing?"

"The first thing is removing any wet clothing," he said quietly.

He got the other sock off, so that now he was looking at her two bare feet dangling above the snow.

Then, in one amazingly fast movement, he took off both of his jackets, and took his shirt off as well. Sara just sat, completely shocked at the sight of this man talking off his clothing in the middle of these freezing temperatures.

But as quickly as he removed them, his two jackets came flying back on and he went back to work.

Sara just watched, still shocked, as he ripped his shirt into two different pieces, and quickly tied them tightly around Sara's feet, though loose enough that her blood wasn't cut off.

She could feel a very slight difference with the dry clothing on her feet, but she was still unable to get much feeling out of them.

Greg seemed to be finished, and was now standing before her, apparently deep in thought.

"We have to keep… your feet out of the.. sn.. Snow." He said quietly with his raspy pained voice.

Sara just stared up at him with a dumb expression on her face. How on earth would they manage that.

Greg continued to look at her, and finally brought his gaze to her eyes, and Sara knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Greg… no." She said sternly.

Greg didn't say anything, just kept looking at her expectantly.

"There's no way I'm letting you. You are probably just about dead as it is."

"Do you want to lose your ability to walk," he said sternly, taking Sara off guard.

She sat dumfounded. Lose her ability to walk? Surely not.. She looked back up to Greg.

"If you ke…keep walking, you could… damage the nerves… too much."

Too much. Meaning, no turning back too much.

How could it have come to this? Frostbite? Greg sick and wanting to carry her?

She couldn't let him do that. The task could possibly kill him by the way he looked now.

"Greg.. You can't carry me… its too far… and.."

Greg shook his head. "We aren't too far now and if.. We don't get… go… going soon, we'll lose the daylight."

This couldn't be happening. It simply couldn't.

She couldn't allow herself to continue to walk, knowing that Greg was right. She could lose her feet, and therefore her job. But she also couldn't let poor sick and weak Greg carry her either.

"Sara.. We need to go."

She shut her eyes really tight, and then nodded.

"I'm… I'm so sorry…"

"Don't be. I offered."

He turned his back to her, then bent down low enough so she could get on his back. She reluctantly put her arms around his neck, and as he lifted her up, she swung her legs around him.

She couldn't have felt worse. She would have preferred to do the ride down the cliff a hundred times again instead of this. She would have gladly laid down in the snow and cover herself in it with nothing but a bra and underwear instead of putting Greg through this.

And yet here she was, on his back and he stumbled through the snow.

Despite everything, exhaustion started to take over. She had been able to stay awake earlier because she was walking. But now, her body seemed to think it was time to sleep.

She fought it as much as she could, but it was so overpowering. Her eyelids became too heavy and they slowly dropped. She drifted off to sleep and Greg struggled to not pass out.

* * *

Ok, so there it was. Nice and long. Again, I am soooo sorry for the wait. I've always told myself that I would never be like those annoying writers who don't update for weeks at a time, but life just gets in the way, and then we just got slammed by those storms. Man, it was bad. Fortunately, we weren't in the worst part of it. We had a few tornadoes and we lost our power (its obviously back now). A few trees down here and there and stuff all over the road, but nothing compared to what you guys see on the news. So, just lend your prayers to those people, we all are. But it's really bad in some areas so… just keep them in your prayers.

The good thing is, we are used to stuff like this with hurricanes, but this hit at like 3 in the morning, so many of us were not prepared and that was very bad for those who got it the worse. And all of this is happening while just miles to the south, the super bowl is going on. Crazy how things happen, huh?

Ok, well about the actual story. I'm not making any promices on when the next one will be out. Hopefully soon, but I really don't know. But isn't it just so relevent that the weather is crazy in the story as well as real life? Haha, we'll say that what Greg and Sara are going through is also an effect of El Nino. haha.. well anyays, review loves!


	5. She Got Closer To Him

**AN: **sorry for the long wait, I have excuses at the bottom. Not going to talk long so you can go ahead and go read.

**Warning: **There is a part that sounds Sandleish, but it isn't, k? Sorry. But you Sandle people are welcome to pretend if you want. Small hints of GSR, but not enough to make anyone happy or make anyone puke.

Happy readings!

* * *

He had no idea how he was managing it. Ever inch of him ached unbearably, and yet he could not only continue walking through the deep snow, but also carry Sara as well. He guessed it could only be adrenaline, which seemed odd because he was so exhausted. Maybe it was just because he knew he _had _to do this.

Whatever the reason, he continued pushing his soaked legs through the snow, Sara hanging limply on his back.

He wasn't very worried about her being limp, though it was only making his job much harder. He figured she was asleep and wasn't mad at her about it at all; he knew that she was exhausted and she probably couldn't control it once her body was given the opportunity to rest.

It was slowly getting darker at an alarming pace though Greg started to lose focus on it, and basically everything except putting one foot in front of the other. The frigid air, the falling snow, the moisture… all of it was getting to him even more with every step. The one good thing about Sara being on his back was that she was keeping him warm.

The truth was, he was not doing too good at all, even he had to admit that. For a little while he had been trying to ignore the fact that he was sick, but now that in conjunction with his frozen, aching body was becoming simply unbearable. And on top of all of that, everything was becoming very hazy and he was losing grip on what was real and what he was just imagining.

Any time he felt stable for however short amount of time, he knew that hypothermia was steadily becoming a larger issue. He spent as much time as he could praying for Sara and himself. Praying that he kept enough strength to carry Sara to somewhere, anywhere that might allow her to remain as healthy as possible, and though he didn't _want _to die, he would prefer that over Sara dying.

He could even prefer him ending up in a very bad state as long as Sara got to keep the use of her feet.

But those moments when his head was clear enough to actually think were happening less and less, and when they did come, they faded fairly quickly.

But despite it all, he continued on. Battling the cold and the pain, and the strong need he had to just lay down and sleep, even if it meant he wouldn't wake up again. The only thing keeping him from doing that was on his back.

He kept trudging until things started to get dark and he was very dizzy. He figured this was just another little phase and that it would pass, but it wasn't.

Everything started to get very dark and he was unable to think, but right before he lost all control, he told himself that no matter what, he would keep walking…

* * *

_She was standing in the middle of a vast white area, and it was freezing!_

_Then suddenly, the scene changed to some sort of freezer with different animals hanging from the ceiling and some on shelves. Then right at her feet was a body. It seemed like any other crime scene she had been to. _

_She looked up and was Grissom. _

_He smile at her for a moment, then gave her a hug. She broke away from his warmth, and then she saw Nick and Warrick, looking oddly at her. Catherine then appeared standing at the head of the body, staring at Sara. _

_All at once, they looked down at the body, and started to cry. _

_Sara felt a horrible feeling, and did not want to look down, but despite her wishes, he head slowly lowered until she was looking at the face of Greg Sanders._

_He was lying oddly on the frozen ground, his legs twisted awkwardly under him, and his eyes staring directly at her. _

_Her heart began to pound against her chest, her eyes filled with tears and she felt a scream rising through her body._

She bolted up, her chest heaving and her body shaking. Wherever she was, it was dark. Too dark to see.

She had no clue where she was, or why she was here. All she knew was that she had been lying down on what felt like a wet blanket and it was very cold.

Then she remembered everything.

Well, she remembered the crash, and the deal she and Greg had made. She remembered walking in the cold, and not seeing anything beyond the side of the cliff. And she remembered her frost bite and then… Greg… carrying her?

No. He couldn't possibly… _she _couldn't have possibly _let _him carry her!

She looked frantically around her, her eyes now better-adjusted to the darkness that surrounded her. She could somewhat make out that she was in some sort of enclosure with a small opening a few feet in front of her, which emitted the only light available from the moon and stars. The walls of her little area out of the direct snow were very rough and hard. Rocks.

She was in a cave.

She didn't remember any of this at all. That meant that Greg must have gotten them there!

She looked at her sides, but found that it was too hard to see. She put out her hands and began to feel around her, her arms still shaking.

Her hand glided over the moist ground, and was relieved to discover that the ground in the cave was not covered in snow. Finally, her hand hit something. It was very cold and wet, and as she felt more, she realized she was feeling human hair.

She continued to feel out until she felt his forehead.

Her hand shot back and she temporarily stopped breathing.

He was hotter than any other time she had felt his head.

Oh God.

He had a very bad fever, there was no doubt about that. He has to be asleep, she thought to herself. She _hoped _he was just asleep.

She battled herself for a minute or two, debating whether or not to try to wake him up. On one hand, he needed the sleep and it might do him some good, but on the other hand, the situation might be much more serious than just him asleep with a temperature and she'd be dammed if she let him "sleep" when in actuality, he was slowly dying, God forbid.

She replaced her hand on him, feeling down to his shoulder. She shook very gently and cooed his name. This first attempt proved to be a failure. He made no sign of waking up.

She took a deep breath a tried again.

She shook a little harder, and spoke a little louder.

Nothing.

Her heart pounded harder until her head was filled with its fast rhythm. She was beginning to panic. There was no possible way he could be… dead. Of course not dead, he was still breathing! But that didn't mean he couldn't be in some sort of coma maybe, or some other bad condition.

She stepped her shaking and her raised her voice, feeling like Rose from the Titanic when she tried to wake up Jack. She just hoped they wouldn't have the same ending.

And then, finally, she felt him jolt slightly under her touch. She drew her hand back, then put her hand back and said his name again.

"Greg!"

He moved some more, and then a small groan.

Sara smiled despite everything, so very elated that he was not dead or close to it. He was awake, but they were not out of the woods yet.

"Greg? You hear me?"

Again, he moaned.

"Listen to me. You need to let me know how you are doing… Greg…?"

He didn't do anything for a few minutes. But finally he moved a little and Sara heard him take in a deep breath.

"Wh…ere?"

Sara answered as truthfully as she could.

"I..I don't know. Some sort of, cave I think. You… you didn't get us here?" she questioned him, feeling very odd not being able to actually see his face. Then again, it may have been for the best that she didn't see his face judging by the sound of his voice.

"I… don't re…remem..ber."

She could hear him shivering in his quivering voice.

"Oh.. Ok. Well, do you have a blanket or anything?"

She heard a very small "mmm-hmmm" and knew that he was going back to sleep.

"Ok… just.. Sleep and we'll handle this in the morning, ok?"

Another little "mmm-hmm" came, though it was much less audible.

Not even a minute later, she could hear his breathing become very consistent, though it was short and forced. She couldn't help but feel worried. Other than the fact that she was cold and possible frostbite, she was fine. Greg, on the other hand, was not fine at all and had just spent God only knows how long carrying her and himself through all of that snow.

How could she have allowed him to do that?

She tried think back to when they realized she had frostbite, or frosting or whatever it was, but couldn't remember much after that other than she was very tired.

She mentally slapped herself. She not only made him carry her, she fell asleep while he did it! How could she?!?

She laid back down, and stared up. It was so dark, she sometimes wondered if her eyes were still actually open, but she didn't care. She just spent a while thinking, worrying until she felt herself getting to tired to even think anymore.

But something kept her from actually going to sleep. It was a horrible feeling of being so tired and not being able to sleep. And the culprit was no mystery to her; it was the cold.

The freezing air was keeping her from going to sleep.

Then it occurred to her that the best way to stay warm is body heat, and surely Greg was cold too.

She didn't think to much about it, but knew it was nothing more than her just trying to stay warm. She lifted herself up enough to position herself next to Greg, feeling her way around to avoid laying directly on him or something.

She felt around where she remembered his head being, then gently worked her way down to his chest. After she found it, she got closer to him, then laid down beside him with one arm over his chest.

She immediately felt warmer, even though it was still very cold. She also felt a little safer and a little less worried now that she could hear and feel him breathing.

These subtle relief's were enough to allow her to relax, and minutes later she was out once again.

* * *

He felt warm. Oddly warm.

He knew he shouldn't really be warm though, because he had no doubt where he was or why he was there, and therefore knew he should be cold.

Of course, he knew he was sick so maybe he just had a really bad fever.

He decided to think about it later. Right now, all he wanted to do was just lay there for a little while longer.

It was morning now and the rays of the sun were shining through the opening of wherever they were. Which brought up an excellent question:

Where were they exactly?

He somewhat remembered Sara waking him up last night and questioning him about some cave and ow they got there, but he couldn't remember that at all. Of course, it had to have been him who got them there, right? Sara said she hadn't, and she couldn't really anyway. So how did they get there?

The last thing he remembered was blacking out, but maybe he didn't actually pass out or anything. Was it possible to black out but still walk and stuff?

He decided that it was for the time being, and went on to other matters.

He was feeling slightly better than the day before; he could actually think. So that was a plus. He still ached from head to toe and he was queasy and his stomach hurt pretty bad, but overall, he was not dead.

He wondered if he had started to get hypothermia the night before.

It was definitely more than possible, and probable actually, giving the fact that he was out there for so long exposed to those conditions.

Maybe he was able to make it to this cave thing in time before it got too bad.

Either way, he seemed ok, giving the possibilities of how things _could _have ended up, and left it at that.

More sunlight was filling their cave and his mind was waking up more now and his thoughts began to expand out to other things.

Sara.

He let one eyelid open a little and let it adjust to the sunlight, and then the other. The brightness made his headache worse, but he could handle it. He lifted his head a little, and notice there was an arm across his chest and a leg curled with his left leg.

He looked to his left and saw Sara directly beside him, cuddled up to his side.

So _that _was why he had felt so warm.

He smiled to himself.

Oh what he would have given a couple years back to be in a position like this with her. Its not that he didn't like her anymore, but he didn't see her as someone he would date, but more like a sister or a very close friend. Besides, he had been getting the feeling that there was something between her and Grissom now, and not just the occasional hint that had been going on for years. Things had changed between the two of them lately.

He usually just pushed it out of his head, not really having any opinion on it, and knowing he could be wrong anyway.

He laid his head back down, and closed his eyes. A few moments later, he felt Sara stirring, and eventually, her eyes opened.

Greg opened his as well, and looked down at her.

She seemed very confused. He just smiled and shut his eyes again.

She wondered how long he had been awake. He still looked horrible, but he was awake so that was a good thing. And, she was actually pretty warm right now, so that was very nice.

She realized that it was morning now and despite her want to lay next to him longer, she knew they should probably get up. At least she should. If Greg wanted to sleep more, then that was fine because he definitely deserved it.

She reluctantly sat up slowly, trying not to disturb Greg too much, but she noticed his eyes were opened again.

"What are you doing?" He asked quietly in his still very strained and tired voice.

"Just looking around. We can't be too far from the car, can we?"

"I don't know. But you better not stand up. I mean it."

Sara smiled at his fatherly tone.

Greg took a deep breath and attempted to push himself up. It was much harder than he had originally thought and had to use his arms and the side of the cave to get him in a sitting position. Once there he tried to rub his face, but snatched his hands away right after they made contact with his face. His face felt like it was on fire!

The sudden movement caused Sara to look back at him, and when she did, she gasped at the sight.

Now that the sun was washing over his face, she could actually see how red and cracked his face was. True, she had seen worse on some of the preparation videos where people had froze to death or died of hypothermia, but he was still getting pretty bad.

He looked confused and startled, so Sara thought she should explain.

"Your face is… is a little chapped…"

He seemed to understand fairly quickly. And really, it shouldn't be much of a surprise. He was out there facing the icy wind for so long last night.

Sara looked away and crawled to the opening of the cave so she could get a better look.

It had stopped snowing and the wind wasn't as strong as it had been, so that was good. She squinted off in the direction she was sure they had been heading, in still a good ways off, she saw a small dark dot alongside the cliff and knew it was the Denali.

"Greg! I can see the car!"

She heard him moving around slowly and knew he was still in pain, but she didn't say anything. Then, she felt him beside her.

He moved past her and ducked through the opening.

"Greg.. You shouldn't…"

But it was too late, he was out there and standing up.

But it didn't last long. He started to wobble, then he fell completely landing in the hard wet snow.

Sara's heart jumped and she crawled a little more so that she could reach him.

"Greg!?! Greg, you ok? What…"

She could see his chest heaving through his think layering. His eyes were open and he was looking around.

"I… I'm just a.. little dizzy, I think."

Sara, still worried grabbed his arm and pulled him closer.

"You should get back in here now," she said as she continued to try to lead him back inside.

Slowly, he put some effort forward and crawled back into the cave with Sara's help. Once in, he fell limply to his stomach, and passed out.

* * *

**AN: **Hmm… interesting. Ok so this is the deal: I probably won't be able to update real soon again because on top of school dumping loads of homework on me and bunch of rehearsals for the school play that's about to open, we are going to be moving in about a week and everyone here is frantically trying to pack and get the house ready to sell. So, know ahead of time. Comment me so that I know people still are interested, but it will be a little while more than likely unless I get some free time from everything, then I will try to write.

Sorry everyone, I'll do what I can.


	6. No Pun Intended

**AN: **Ok guys, I know I suck. You don't have to tell me. But I will say that I have plenty of excuses so don't lose your mind yet. Yes, there were a couple of chances I've had to update, but with everything that's been going on, I just needed to rest. We have been having some family problems, along with my freshman year at a college prep school (rated number 3 high school in America in Newsweek, sorry, makes me happy.) I just have not had any time to venture away from the real world lately. I do apologize for that because I've always hated people who don't update forever. It kills me.

So anyways, here's your long awaited update. More to come later (announcement on that at the end.) And I just really want to thank you guys who commented and especially for not yelling at me for not updating. It really has been crazy.

**Warnings: **This chapter is pretty slow.. Not much happens unfortunately. But it should get better later. Also, not officially beta'd but I read over it a million times, so sorry if there are mistakes. I don't know how to get a beta because my family won't do it….

So enough talking. Just read the end note for all the other notes.

Happy Readings!

* * *

She watched as he shakily entered the cave with her assistance, then fell limply to the ground. It had frightened her, but she thought that he was just tired and allowed himself to rest. But as she scooted closer to him on her hands and knees, she realized that he had passed out.

Her heart raced even more-so than it had been. She placed her uncovered fingertips on his neck and felt a steady heartbeat, but was surprised at his warmth.

_How much longer could he last out here fighting this cold?_

She had seen him get better, then worse, then better again.. And it just kept going on and on.

She looked over him again and saw the steady rising and falling motion of his back and the consistent breathing with a slight hitch, and decided that he was probably just in a deep sleep now, which was probably good, although he was trembling.

She reached beyond him and grabbed the blanket he had been wearing and draped it over him.

She had never really known how to take care of someone, not having the most pleasant of childhoods and never having a child of her own to look after, so she was not entirely certain what she was doing.

It didn't seem right to attempt to warm up someone who has a high fever, but then again, she had always heard the saying "sweating out a fever" and they _were _surrounded by snow, and he _was _shaking.

With those many reasons to weigh out leaving him uncovered, she tucked the blanket tighter around him. She looked at him for a little longer, hoping and praying she was doing the right thing.

This general thought confused her though: If someone had a fever, that means their body temperature was too high, but out here, one's temperature was bound to go down, right? So… what happens when you have both at one time? Or will the cold surroundings actually bring his already high temperature down? Now she was just confusing herself. She really should know this stuff though.

She looked back down at him at just decided to leave it alone until he woke up and told her what's wrong. Besides, he's unbelievably smart and would probably know the answer.

So what could she do now?

He needed help, there was no doubt about that. But how could she get help? Every bit of her knew that what Greg had said was true. If she continued to walk and expose her feet to the elements, she could lose them. But on the other hand, she had no way of knowing how much longer Greg would last.

She decided that if he didn't wake up in two hours, she would leave. She wasn't sure how she came up with this plan; it was a sudden decision.

But what other options did she have?

The hope of someone else finding them seemed silly now, even though it was technically possible, and he couldn't get them help if he's unconscious. And she could not bare the thought of her somehow living while he died just because she was fearful of losing her feet.

A life in exchange for body parts was unfathomable.

She lifted a small portion of the blanket so that she could retrieve the iPod from Greg's pocket, the only source of time they had.

She turned it on and saw that it was 12:57, on the third day since the crash. She shook her head and leaned back against the wall of the cave.

_At 3:00, if he isn't awake, I'll leave, _she thought definitively to herself.

She didn't _want _to of course, but it was something that was needed.

Her eyes began to wander around the cave, and every so often falling back on Greg, who hadn't moved a bit.

She looked to the left of his head and saw a bag and her kit.

She smiled to herself.

He had somehow managed to carry her, himself, the food, and the kit all by himself. How in the world did he do that?

She reached over and grabbed it and pulled out some crackers. She opened them, not trying to stay quiet. If he was sleeping, then she knew he should remain that way, but until he woke up or showed signs of consciousness, she had no way of knowing if was actually asleep or something more.

But the crinkling of the wrapper had no effect on him, so she just nibbled on her crackers, noting at how wonderful they tasted.

Over the last few hours, she had gotten very hungry. She started to think about this idea, and wondered if she would actually eat meat if there was nothing else to eat.

She had never given it a real thought, never being in a situation like this, but it was a very good question.

She had been a vegetarian for so long now, it was hard to imagine her eating meat for any reason at all, but surely there would be a time when she would get hungry enough.

Yes, of course there would, she corrected herself after remembering some books on the human brain. When a person goes with food for long enough, the body starts eating itself which will cause them to lose their mind and eat anything that becomes available.

That had to have been what happened to anyone who resulted to cannibalism. Unless they were like Hannibal Lector, who willingly ate people, she mused.

She found her thoughts becoming less and less organized, and knew that she was beginning to fall asleep again.

Once this thought registered, she immediately woke herself back up.

There was no way she could fall asleep. She had a plan.

Greg hadn't fallen asleep while he was carrying her, had he? No, of course not. Not until he had gotten them somewhere safe first.

Sara would have to be there for him like he had been there for her!

It might not be easy, but she could do it. And she told herself this, and that was that.

She took another bite of her cracker, this time more forcibly. But, her eyes started to droop again and her jaw slowed down to the point where she looked like a nursing infant.

She shook herself awake again. This really could not go on for too long. She must really be weak.

Just then, she saw a small movement come from the corner of her eye, which was plenty enough to wake her up entirely. She watched and waited for him to move again, but nothing came for a moment or so. Finally, he moved his head, then slowly pulled his arms underneath him, then pushed himself up with great effort.

Sara was well aware of the deep breathing and pained expressions he clearly wore, but she said nothing about it.

"How are you feeling," she asked quietly.

He didn't seem to hear her because he didn't so much as flinch at the sound of her voice.

She frowned, not knowing how to take it. She watched him a little longer. He hadn't moved from being on his hands and knees. He just kept looking at the ground and breathing hard. Sara started to get nervous because he still wasn't very reactive to his surroundings.

Sara pushed herself back onto her knees and slowly made her way over to him.

"Greg.." She asked softly, hoping for him to answer or even look at her. But he didn't.

Finally she was close enough to touch him, so she shakily reached her hand out and rubbed his back.

Only then did he seem to "wake up" because he flinched then slowly turned his head so that he could see Sara.

She realized that he wasn't completely "there" once she saw his eyes. They were almost dancing around the cave as if searching for something and he kept blinking and shaking his head.

"Hey Greg, it's ok. Why don't you sit back down." He was still on his hands and knees, which was making her very uncomfortable because it was not really a normal position.

He seemed confused but as she led him down to a sitting position, he seemed to become more aware. His eyes stopped dancing and just stayed put on Sara, though they were half closed.

Sara smiled warmly back at him, though still a little shocked at his behavior. Once he was sitting _comfortably _against the cave wall and the blanket across his lap, Sara decided to see where he was mentally.

"Do you know where you are, Greg?" She asked quietly.

He took his eyes off of her and looked around. She was pretty sure he didn't know at first, but when his eyes lose some life and a hopeless expression filled his face, she had a feeling he knew where he was.

"Yeah," he answered in his broken, raspy voice. He then let his head fall against the wall and he closed his eyes.

Sara hated to see him like this. She could only imagine how he felt. Which brought her to a very good question:

"How are you feeling," She continued, knowing that the only way she had a chance of helping him was to know what was wrong.

He didn't raise his head or open his eyes, but he let out a pained sarcastic laugh.

"I'm sorry, Greg. I guess that's a stupid question…"

"No actually, its not." He sighed and lifted his head back up and tried to take a deep breath, but it didn't work out so well.

Sara continued to stare at him, not real sure what he meant by it not being a stupid question. Thankfully he began to speak again.

"I feel bad, but I don't know what's wrong," He said, looking confused himself at his explanation.

"I… I'm cold and hot, my head is… not good, and I can't really feel anything else… but it hurts… I just really don't know." This response sounded much more exhausted and very drained.

Sara didn't know how to respond to him, but she really felt bad for him. She could see it in his eyes that he was not doing so great.

"How are you," He asked, seemingly trying to change the subject. "Your feet?"

"Oh. I really don't know. I haven't checked on them or anything…"

Greg nodded.

"I wish I knew more about frost bite, but I only know the basics, and that's not really enough at all…"

Sara saw something in her eyes that didn't feel right. Not guilt pre se, but something like it. And she would not allow him to feel anything close to that.

"Stop that, Greg. You've done quite enough already. And you know what, your feet might be just as bad," she paused but acknowledged him shaking his head. "And it doesn't matter anyway. I know not to walk on them if at all possible, unless it's absolutely necessary.."

"It won't be," Greg said in a bold voice.

"Oh really? Look, you had to _carry _me all night and…"

"Exactly. I carried you so you wouldn't screw up your feet more than you already have. Now, if you want to throw all of that labor to the wind and be stupid and go walk on your feet, then be my guest. But when you cannot walk anymore or when the doctors are cutting them, don't you come complaining to me."

He said all of this in a joking manner, because they both knew that if Sara needed him again for anything, he would do everything in his power to help her, but she could hear the exhaustion in his voice and knew his message was serious: He would not let her walk if he could help it.

So, she let it go.

"Then what _are _we going to do?"

Greg thought about it for a while.

"Well, we should probably get out of this winter wonderland, don't you think?"

Sara smiled at him.

"Is that your master plan, or are you that sick? Of course we should get out of here, but how exactly? You won't let me walk nowhere…"

"Because you can't," He interrupted but she ignored him and continued on.

"And you are going to die if you have to go carry me around again…"

"Well then I'll go by myself."

That stopped Sara dead in her tracks. How could he be so bravely stupid?

"Is it your goal to die out here, or what?" Sara countered to him. She didn't say it harshly or anything, but for goodness sakes he refused to make this easy on her.

"No, that is not my goal. But my first priority is not to get out of here alive, therefore I will do what it takes to obtain my first priority first."

"Oh really? And what _is _your first priority."

Greg grinned in a mischievous manner.

"That's for me to know and you to find out. Possibly. I don't really care if you find out or not, just as long as it happens."

"I see. But I'm still not letting you go," Sara responded, taking a leaf out of Greg's book in making sure that her words gave room for no if's, and's, or but's.

Greg chuckled at her defiant tone.

"You're not _letting _me? I see…" He just continued to laugh until it was interrupted by a cough which broke Sara from the semi-lighthearted conversation they were just having.

Fortunately it was not a bad cough and came and went quickly without leaving any serious damage to Greg, but they both knew it would only get worse.

"Look, how could I let you go out there alone when we both know that you are very sick and may not make it out. You immune system is already done, so its definitely a possibility. The only problem I have is my feet, I would rather lose them than lose you."

Greg had no response to this. He knew she was right, but that didn't change his mind or his priorities.

"Ok, so that still leaves us at the same predicament: how are we going to get help?"

Sara shook her head. "I don't know Greg…"

"That's settles it then, I'm going." He started to push himself up. "And before you say anything, I'm promise you that once I get to the Denali, I will stop and rest there. Then I'll go on for a little longer, and if I see nothing right away, I'll turn around and come back."

He saw now almost standing up, and turned back to Sara who was opening and closing her mouth in protest.

"Greg, no. I will not let you…"

"Sara," He said loudly and with much force. "We can't keep doing this! I know the risks, I know I'm sick, but I know I can do this. I won't be gone long and I'll take the blanket and everything. And if I start feeling really bad, then I'll turn around regardless of where I am, ok?"

Sara heard the desperation in his voice and saw his point, but she couldn't let him go out there and risk his life again just for her and her feet.

"I'm sorry Greg, but no. You know what," she said almost as loudly as him. "I can walk."

She turned around to face the wall and began to use it to help herself up, all the while Greg protesting and trying to get her to stop, but she wouldn't.

The first moment she put the least amount of weight on her foot, she didn't feel the expected rush of pain. So naturally, she placed even more weight on them and stood up.

Nothing at first, but all of the sudden, massive bursts of excruciating pain filled her entire body and she couldn't hear anything, including her pained screams.

The last thing she saw was Greg trying to reach out and grab her, but before she knew it, everything turned black.

Greg had known what was about to happen before it did, and had tried to catch her, but she slipped right through his weak arms. The truth was he had barely enough strength to hold himself up, let alone to keep Sara from falling. So she inevitably fell through his arms.

Right away he dropped to his knees to make sure she was ok, but she wasn't responsive.

"Sara," he cooed softly, pulling her hair away from her face with two frozen fingers.

It wasn't that she didn't respond to him that turned his blood cold, no pun intended, but it was the sight of blood turning the ground around her head crimson red.

* * *

**EN: **Ok, I will admit that I made a stupid mistake in not pre-writing this story, or at least getting ahead so that posting would not be as much of a problem. I'm sorry about that, but I am actually still pretty new at this, and I've learned my lesson. So here's the deal:

We just got out on summer vacation, so we're heading down to the keys tomorrow morning (we travel a lot.) This is good news and probably bad news. The good news is I'll have seven to eight hours in the car to continue typing, the bad news is we may not have a connection at the house we are staying at… so worst case scenario, you'll get an update either Thursday or Friday, but I'll have backup chapters so… Again, I'm sorry but I'll git-r-done.

Oh and, I know that Greg seems to be the only one doing anything heroic really, but it turns out, once you screw up Sara'a feet, she can't do much without stretching medical facts, so I just decided to knock her out. See, I don't know a whole lot about frostbite, but I know that you shouldn't walk on them at all, especially in more snow or else there will be extensive cell damage and then you lose them… So… sorry if you wanted heroic Sara, but at least she is trying. And I may be able to work something out... We'll see.


	7. Those Amazing Waterbeds

**AN: **You guys are like the most amazing people ever! Thanks to everyone for being so considerate and forgiving! And I didn't lie, did I? Got it to you Thursday... YAY!!

**Interesting note: **I wrote this in Key West… Its beautiful!

**Warning: **I hate the first part of this chapter. I tell you, it was like swallowing a cactus. I like that second half, but the first half is slow and it was kind of hard to explain because there wasn't any talking and blah blah blah… so.. Sorry for the first half.

Think I may have a bad word or two in here somewhere.

**Beta Person: **Ok, someone sent me something about being my beta, but I lost you so I just got a friend to do it, and when I read over it myself, I caught two mistakes, so… I'm sorry if there are still mistakes. And whoever sent me that offer, please send again.

Alrighty. Have at it!

* * *

It was the oddest thing, seeing her lying there like that with blood around her head. It wasn't a lot at all, but it was enough to be alarmed about. He didn't freak out at the sight of her or panic in anyway. This worried him a little, but now was not the time to dwell on it. 

But not panicking had it's benefits, the best being the fact that he could simply do what he could for her much easier than if his nerves were getting in his way.

He quickly moved her head gently until he got a clear sight of the wound, which thankfully didn't look too deep, but it was definitely deep enough to have caused a concussion. And judging by her lack of consciousness, that was what had happened.

He knew what he had to do: apply pressure to the wound and get help. However, what he would use to do that was not coming to him. He blamed it on his throbbing head and blurring vision. He wasn't doing too good physically, and was mentally getting worse, but he still managed to get a grip after a second or too.

He grabbed one of the soaked shirts that had been thrown aside and balled it up. He was sure it was probably freezing, but his hands were so numb and cold, that he couldn't even tell. But he figured that the wet shirt was better than nothing and it was probably better to keep whatever warmth they had on their bodies.

He balled up the shirt and pushed it against her wound with one hand, and gently ran his other hand through her hair.

"Sara?" He tried again, though he had a feeling she wouldn't be waking up real soon.

He swiftly scanned the shirt and was relieved to see that no blood was seeping through yet, so it wasn't bleeding too heavily.

He suddenly felt very alone and helpless. It was the first time he could recall himself feeling this way since the crash. Heck, he didn't even feel this alone when he was carrying Sara through the snow. That may have been because he was completely losing it and blacking out, but still.

It probably had a lot to do with the fact that Sara was now in much more serious condition than she had been then, at least this danger was more visible.

He found himself having a problem keeping the same pressure on the wound. He was worn out entirely.

So now he faced a new issue all together: Time. Going or not going was never the question for Greg; he was going to go out there alone whether Sara liked it or not; but now time was much more of an issue. True, it had always been an issue with the icy conditions, but now Sara had a concussion more than likely, and possibly had damage to her brain. So yes, time was a little more of an issue.

And now, he had to make sure that she was as set as he could get her before leaving her. He hated the thought of leaving her. But they really didn't have a choice. Carrying her was regrettably out of the question, his body just couldn't do it. But is was clear that either he went, or they would both die here.

So the next step would be to get her set. But how? He couldn't stay here to keep the shirt against her head, so he would have to do something else. He took his eyes off Sara long enough to search the cave for any other useless garments, but found none.

He grabbed the blanket from around his shoulders and began to tear at the very edge. He knew that he would need the blanket to stay warm with, but he only needed one sliver of it off the edge to tie around her head.

It wasn't easy, but he finally managed to get a small tear in the blanket using one hand and his teeth. From there, it was much easier continuing to rip through the blanket.

Once that was done, he attempted to tie it around her head, balancing the shirt on her injury while he quickly used both hands to lift her head and finish the tie. He was sure to tie it tight enough to hold the shirt down with enough pressure to stop the bleeding as much as possible.

He paused for a moment, looking at her as though he may never see her again. Which could possibly be the case given the circumstances, but he refused to think like that.

As he stared at her, he couldn't help but think of an angel. She was a beautiful woman. And as these thoughts ran through his mind, all the possible outcomes of what he was about to do crossed his mind.

What if he doesn't make it and he ends up killing himself and leaving her all alone out here? What if she wakes up while he's gone and tries to follow him? What if he does find help, but too late?

Greg began to bite his lips but stopped when he felt how cracked an busted they were. He shook his head and decided that the "what if's" would have to wait, because there was nothing else he could do.

He wished he could leave her some type of note or something, but they were lucky enough to have that small amount of food; what were the chances of having a pen and paper stuck in there somewhere?

He looked back at Sara, and felt the sudden need to get her help, and fast. He wished her a silent goodbye and said a quick, but sincere prayer for her.

He then got to his feet and stood as straight as he could in the cave and went over to the bag filled with finger food and got two bags of chips, making sure to leave plenty for Sara, and set the bag next to her.

He then ate a few chips, even though he wasn't hungry. He had a feeling that may have been why he passed out the last time he went outside, and he really couldn't afford to lose consciousness out there if at all possible.

With one last glance behind him, he took one step out into the snow covered ground, pulled the blanket around him even tighter, and started his journey.

He took a few small steps, allowing himself to adjust to this new environment, and take it as easy as possible knowing that the trip ahead may be long and brutal.

He looked around and actually felt a little reassured. The earth was still blanketed with thick snow, but the wind had died down quite a bit and the sky had brightened a little, and most importantly, there was no new snow falling. They were all good signs that ultimately made Greg feel better.

He pushed on, feeling the snow numbing his legs and but he tried not to focus on it. Instead, he kept his eyes on the small black dot off in the distance.

He reached his freezing hands into his pockets in search of his iPod, but found nothing. He guessed Sara must have taken it out while he was asleep, and decided that it wasn't worth turning around for. Besides, he was sure it was close to four, which gave him enough daylight to get pretty far.

He glanced behind him and was amazed to see how far he had gotten already. Just as he turned back around, a sudden icy wind caught him off guard and filled his lungs with freezing cold air. He felt his chest constrict and a series of coughs rattled through him.

He had to stop moving to keep his balance. The cough made his already throbbing head double in pain and now his throat was on fire.

And despite these problems, a smile found its way to Greg's face. He didn't know why or how one could smile in a situation like this. He knew that sometimes people laugh when they are really upset as a way of dealing with things, but he wasn't upset really, just in pain.

Maybe it was because he was delirious? Well, that was a likely possibility seeing as how he had been sick for a while, but it still didn't make a whole lot of sense to him.

He was now moving again and the dot was getting closer and closer. He had learned his lesson about the wind and now had the blanket over his mouth and nose to better protect himself from it.

So the wind was not a problem for now, and he wasn't even that cold, which was a blessing. The only problems were how sick and weak he felt, and his guilt for leaving Sara.

The lack of panic and nerves he had had when she fell was now hitting him full force and it resulted in his pace quickening. And those "what if's" were filling his head again along with dozens of other horrifying possibilities.

He felt his heart beat quicken and wanted so badly to turn back around and run as fast as he could to Sara. He saw in his mind's eye her lying there, the shirt thrown from her head and blood rushing out.

With this thought, he stopped completely and turned back towards the cave.

All other thoughts disappeared and all that was left was two options: keep going, or turn back.

This was the big decision to be made, all risks and possible benefits on the table, and he had to make it. Damn second thoughts.

He stood in that one position for what seemed like hours. The wind pushing him and his blanket dancing around him. He stared at the cave opening in the distance as if Sara would emerge from it and tell him what to do.

But he suddenly didn't need her to make the decision for him. With a tight stomach he turned his back to the cave once more.

_Just like rollercoasters_, he thought to himself. _Finally get the nerve to get on the ride, you're all strapped in, and then you suddenly change your mind. But, there's no turning back._

Now, if only his current situation would have the same outcome as rollercoasters. Yeah, the fear and the anxiety before the ride starts up is near unbearable, but everyone knows at the end of the ride, its one of the most amazing and exhilarating experiences, and leaves you wanting more.

Greg laughed out loud.

He was pretty sure that this would not end up being the most "amazing" or "exhilarating" experiences in his life, and he damn well knew he would never want to do this again. In fact, he may even move to Mexico or somewhere near the equator just to make sure there will be no snow.

He used this idea to take his mind off of everything else, which was very helpful when considering there was so much to feel and think about.

Soon enough, he was lost in a world of thoughts; imagining the crystal blue water, hot girls in bikini's, palm trees, the warmth of the sun. He could of sworn he actually giggled at the thought of the sun. He missed it and how it would dry out the air around him and leave the desert a steaming haze.

And to think he had ever complained about it.

He exited his daydreams long enough to realize that he was now only steps from his snow-covered Denali.

This of course was good news, but now that he was back in reality, all the aches and pains returned full force.

He thought back to the promise he had made to Sara about resting when he reached the Denali, and didn't know if it was still a good idea.

True, he was exhausted beyond all reason and his body was like one big bruise, but then again, resting would take up time that he, and more importantly Sara, may not have.

So, he stood in snow, staring at the car, wondering what he should do.

_Well, I'll just go in and sit for a few minutes, _he told himself. The rest could only help and he could use it to force a little more food down.

He went to the front passenger seat and pulled open the door. His numb hands let off an odd sensation as he used them to open the door and pull himself into the vehicle.

Piled up snow fell from the roof as Greg slammed the car door.

He let out an exasperated breath.

It had been a while since he was comfortably sitting anywhere and he could almost feel his body melting over the seat.

He thought about the food clutched in his hand but didn't want to move at all to eat it. He sat perfectly still, taking in the moment.

Random distant thoughts floated in then left in a pattern that reminded him of bubbles.

His eyes began to droop and become too heavy to keep open. And before he knew it, weakness got the better of him and he gave into the peaceful darkness gathering in the edges of his mind.

_He was walking in the grocery store on the frozen goods isle. He always hated that isle, even though it housed some awesome foods like ice cream and waffles, because whenever you walked down it, you froze. And sometimes that was good, but right now he really did not want to be cold. _

_So he made his way towards the end of the isle, but it kept getting longer. That only happens in the movies, he though angrily to himself. Finally he reached the end, but when he tried to turn out of the isle, he hit hard, cold glass. _

_Another cheap movie trick. _

_He thought about what he should do next, and for some weird reason, entering one of the doors on the isle seemed like a good idea. _

_He of course went straight to the ice cream. He opened the it up and stepped in._

"_Greg!" He heard a familiar voice then saw Sara's excited face staring back at him._

_What's Sara doing here?_

"_Greg, I found a secret land where its always winter and we have to help the lion and… that other thing…"_

"_Ok…" Greg responded to her. What the hell was she talking about?_

_And winter all the time? Damn. _

_Before he could do anything else, Sara began to run off. Greg got a God-awful feeling about her leaving him and frantically went off after her. Right when he saw the back of her head, she suddenly disappeared and he was left in a gigantic white room. _

_Sara's gone._

That last thought was the scariest thing that had ever crossed Greg's mind. His heart began to pound and he briefly had no idea where he was, but once the cold air on his cheeks registered, he remembered everything.

Oh God.

His eyes popped open and his blood turned to ice when he saw that it was dark. He had fallen asleep, and now it was night.

Adrenaline must have kicked in full blast because before he knew it, he was out of the car and hurrying through the snow in the opposite direction of the cave.

He was so focused on getting through the snow fast that he didn't even realize that the wind had picked up considerably and the snow was just over his knees.

His quickened pace was taking its toll on him and coughing fits shook his body, but he didn't care. A mixture of snow and the relentless pain in his head blurred his vision.

He felt himself slowing down and he started struggling with gravity. He couldn't hold his arms against him any longer for extra warmth, so he let them fall to his side.

He was no longer trembling, which was nice. Though he knew it was not a good sign.

He just kept trudging. Everything was seeming to get darker by the moment, and he couldn't think anymore. Not really. Wild ideas and thoughts, all centering around Sara, were bombarding what little bit of sanity he had left.

And then it all stopped.

Everything just stopped and he was on his knees.

He stared blankly at the snow only inches from his face. He couldn't feel or think, but had an awful feeling that he had failed.

In a way, something inside of him gave up.

"Greg…"

Greg's eyes reopened at the sound of someone calling his name in that familiar voice, though it sounded different. Almost angel-like.

But it couldn't be her...

"Greg…"

Greg turned his head towards the misty voice, and sure enough, Sara was standing to his left.

She looked gorgeous.

A bright radiant light glowed behind her and her eyes were calm and soothing. What impressed him most was that she looked perfect. Not like someone who had been in a freezing iceland for almost four days.

"Sara?" He tried to say, but he didn't hear anything come out.

She apparently did though.

"Who else? What are you doing on the ground?"

Greg looked up to her and felt like crying, but he didn't have enough energy for it.

"Sara… I can't. I just can't…" He choked out as his back bent sending his forehead mere centimeters from the snow.

"Shut up crybaby," She replied in a joking manner. "You're almost there…"

Greg looked up at her bewildered.

"What?"

Sara laughed again.

"Yeah, didn't you know?" When Greg didn't answer, Sara continued. "Yeah, there's a road with a few people right up this hill," she pointed behind her.

Greg felt his stomach flip and his heartbeat quickened slightly.

"R..Really?"

"Greg, why would I lie to you?" Everything she said was with such ease and as though everything was absolutely ok in every way.

"That means get your butt up and go up there," she said loudly. "Here, just follow me."

She turned away from Greg and began to glide up the snow-covered hill towards the light.

Greg panicked.

"Wait, Sara! Don't leave!" He begged. She showed no sign of slowing down and her figure was beginning to disappear in the falling snow and the warm light.

Greg gathered the tiny amount of energy he had and struggled to push himself up. He kept calling after Sara as he stumbled through the snow towards her and the light.

Going up the hill was the hardest thing he had done yet. Every step he took sent him down into the snow, but every time he managed to get up without thinking.

He just knew he had to stay with Sara.

He continued to call her name, though he was unsure if he was actually saying it out loud or not.

He was almost at the top and the light was getting brighter. But he couldn't see Sara anymore.

Finally, he pulled himself over the top of the hill and was greeted by some type of metal guard rail. He tried to get over it too, but ended up just falling over it, landing hard on the ground on the other side. It was much harder than what the snow had been.

Only this time, he couldn't get up. He couldn't talk and could hardly even breathe.

He could almost feel his body slowly shutting down.

But he did realize something. That light just kept getting brighter.

And then he heard some people off in the distance speaking loudly and they were getting closer.

"_What was that?"_

"_Oh man… He needs help!"_

"_Sir? Sir can you hear me?"_

"_He's not doing good. Hey man, wake up."_

Greg found these voices to be odd and rather annoying. He was really tired, couldn't they just let him sleep for a little while?

But the voices continued and they were talking about awkward things like getting someone help and calling for help and other things. Whoever they were talking about must have been in some serious shit.

"_We need to keep him awake, Wyatt.._"

Keep who awake? Him? Well if so then that was not very nice of them.

"_Yeah.. You're right." _He felt a small amount of pressure on his face. "_Sir, help is coming. Can you tell me your name?_"

Greg now felt pretty confident that they were addressing him directly, so he decided to open his eyes.

The blinding light was still there and two shadowy figures were hovering over him.

"Sara?"

The two figures looked at each other.

"Your name is Sara?"

_What an idiot_, Greg thought to himself.

"Greg."

"Oh, ok. Well Greg, you are going to be fine, ok?" The one on the right said in a falsely reassuring tone.

He didn't really know what they were talking about, or where he was, or why he was there, because there was only one thing on his mind right now.

"Sara," he whispered, "Is she here?"

"No son, who's Sara. Was she also with you?" This voice was much older and had a certain manliness to it. Kind of like some of those country singers that have the really deep voices.

Greg tired to nod his head.

"Yes.. She's here… right?"

Greg was finding it harder to breathe, think, move, talk… just about anything and everything.

"No, where is she?"

Greg knew the man had said something, but he just didn't catch it.

"Greg, do you know where Sara is?"

Greg was thoroughly confused now, but he intended to answer the question. If Sara was not here, then she was probably still in the cave. But why? Why would she come to help him, then go back to the cave?

"Cave… In cave. By Denali… Hurry." Greg opened his eyes, feeling that this next piece of information was very important to tell these figures.

"She's hurt… head, feet. Hurry… Cave. Left of Denali. Hurry…"

Suddenly a very peaceful feeling fell over him. He was no longer cold, or in pain, or worried. Nothing. It was like he was floating on a cloud or laying on one of those amazing waterbeds. Either way, this place was much better than where he just was, and he didn't really feel like going back there for anything.

* * *

**EN: **Hahaha, don't ya love it? Its like a multiple cliffhanger. How's Greg? How's Sara? Where's the team? (They will be coming in soon.) Again, thanks so much to all of you. I'm really thankful to have amazing readers like you guys! More soon. 


	8. Four Days

**AN: **Ok guys, here's the next one. I guess I'm pretty pleased with it. I see many people didn't review the last one, but the ones I did get were great, so its all good. I won't talk your ear's off this time, but let me say that this one was beta'd, but not by the person I originally sent it to, snapefan51, and that is only because I got too excited to wait, and wanted to post. So, I'm sorry I didn't wait on you, its nothing personal… But thanks so much anyways!

**Warning: **A little different as far as perspectives go. I missed the rest of the team… I don't think there are any curse words… And again, it was beta'd, but there could always be mistakes.

**Jericho: **Ok, I don't know how many of you have watched this show, but it was so good and I was so in love with it. And I think that a lot of you would like it too sinse we obviously have some things in common with CSI and Greg angst. But anyways, it was canceled and now there is a **huge **grass-roots rebellion going on here, and when I say huge, I mean its the biggest campaign in tv history!! We sent like... 10 tons of nuts to CBS (its refernece to the fianle) and we've got all kinds of plublicty and now, we have reason to believe that we _may _get it back in some way, shape, or form. But if any of you want to give the show a try, the whole season is on CBS's Innertube (believe me, you will get hooked) and som the site to visit if you want to help out is **www . jericholives . com**

Please help if you can! It feels really good to be a part of something this big. And you know it has to be good if the campaign has gotten this far.. Thanks so much guys!

* * *

Four days. 

Four days was a really long time.

Four days was an even longer amount of time for CSI's when someone, especially people they care about, have been missing and they have no leads whatsoever.

And these pass four days had proven to be nothing less than hell for Grissom and everyone else that worked at the Las Vegas Crime Lab.

To be perfectly honest, the trouble had started weeks before that as the flu made its way through almost every employee at the lab with the exception of Sara and Greg, both of which had been missing without a trace for four days.

The only thing that was known about their whereabouts was that they left together in Sara's car at approximately 1:50 AM. But that was all that was known. No traffic cameras caught them beyond the main red-light, and no one had even claimed that they had seen the car, which is very odd indeed because usually people call in left and right saying they saw the vehicle.

Not even that much luck.

Grissom rubbed his temples.

They had known right away that Greg and Sara were missing because the morning they went home, Warrick had tried to call Greg, and when no one picked up, he tried Sara. After that point, things began to escalate until they discovered that the CSI's had vanished.

They didn't know if they were kidnapped, or got lost somewhere… or something else. Given the weather conditions, an accident was not out of the question, but there were no reports of a Sara Sidle or Greg Sanders in any of the hospitals in twenty mile radius of the lab.

The only other thing that was known was that both of them had been pulling long and complicated cases while everyone was out sick and according to Judy at the front desk, both looked tired and Greg particularly looked "awfully sick."

Grissom sighed.

Everyone had been in a frenzy around the lab. At this point, everyone was back in, even though many of them had still not gotten over their colds completely. Luckily, just about everyone was down to just coughing or sneezing or headaches because even if it was worse, they would have come in to help find their friends.

And at first, they had all worked so hard and with hope, but now, a definite change in morale was present. Grissom wished he could give them some kind of news, any update on their friend's and co-worker's current conditions, but he had nothing to offer them. And what was even worse was that they were well aware of the statistics and all the different ways to die or be tortured.

But they continued to work, despite it all, making enormous amounts of phone calls, visits to different places around town, searches… you name it.

There was just nothing to be found. Which was pushing Grissom even more on edge.

There was _always _something. Always.

Especially if foul play was the case because humans make mistakes, and it's the job of the CSI's to find these mistakes and put them together until the puzzle is complete. Or complete enough to know what the picture is.

With Greg and Sara, they had one puzzle piece. Just one and it was just a plain puzzle piece at that.

Sara taking Greg home was not out of the ordinary at all if Greg was sick, so even that didn't make him, or any of the CSI's think too much.

So here they all sat in the conference room, looking over maps and phone logs, rereading interviews and so on. They were all frustrated by this point and were just longing for any update at all.

It was always a horrible thought to imagine being informed of a friend's death, but to Grissom and many others, not knowing was far worse. It reminded him a lot of Langston Hughes' _A Dream Deferred. _Either way, they were no further in the "know" than when they first picked up the case, but had no intentions of giving up any time soon.

Most of the CSI's did their own job and didn't speak unless it was necessary. They had said just about everything they could say on the small amount of data they had. The same exact data they had been staring at for over a day, hoping to see something, anything, that would give them some kind of hint on their friends.

All of them were lost in their own projects when Captain Jim Brass entered the room half excited, half worried.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we have something," Brass said, a reluctant smile spreading across his face.

Of course everyone in the room just about jumped out of their chairs in anticipation for whatever type of news the police captain may have.

"They've apparently found Greg," Brass paused and waited for the response of joy from the CSI's, but instead got an even more anxious and worried look. "Alive." Jim quickly added, feeling stupid for not realizing that before.

This did send the CSI's into celebration, but it was short lived.

"Wait guys," Brass interrupted. "He's not doing good. I do not know much at all, but they made it clear that he was in very bad shape." Everyone's faces changed, but their was still much more hope in them than before.

Nick opened his mouth to ask the same question that had entered everyone's mind, but Brass answered it before he got a word out.

"Sara was not with him, but I do know that Greg was talking about her, and he wasn't really talking right, but he apparently said she's in a cave, left of the Denali? Search team is out there now. We'll know more soon."

Silence filled the room as their one prayer for the last found days had been answered, the only problem now was making sure they stayed alive.

"We should head to the hospital then," Catherine spoke up, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, we're probably not going to get anything off of any of this stuff now anyways," Warrick replied, happy to have an excuse to get away from these three sheets of paper he had been staring at for way too long.

They all agreed that the hospital was were they should be at the given moment, and packed up and wrapped themselves in heavy coats and left.

The weather was frightfully bad, so they decided to take just one car. Grissom drove, Catherine sat beside him in the passenger seat, and Nick and Warrick resided in the back.

All of their minds were racing. They somehow managed to go from having absolutely no information at all, to this. There were still many questions left to be asked and one more team member to be found, but as of now, they were a whole lot further than they had been.

Grissom was considering all of this new information. Sara not found yet, the things Greg had apparently said… sounded like it was a mixture of a car accident and getting lost. Either way, that meant that both Greg and Sara had been out there for four days and Greg possibly with the flu.

And then this weather…

It was hard for him to imagine being out there in it for more than a couple of hours, but they had gone days.

He shook his head and tried to focus on driving. Lucky for the them, the hospital was in the heart of the city where most of the roads were being kept cleared, but everyone was still driving slowly to better ensure safety.

When they arrived at the hospital, they seemed to get out of the car, and be inside in a record time. They went straight to the Emergency Room, finding it to be the most likely place Greg would be taken.

"Excuse me ma'am," Nick greeted the tired looking lady at the front desk. "We were told to come here for Greg Sanders."

The woman nodded then consulted some papers and her computer, then looked back up to the group in front of her.

"I don't see him in our records…"

"He may not have come in yet," Warrick interrupted. "He's in his early thirty's and he's probably hypothermic…" Warrick admittedly had watched a few episodes of ER and knew that in many cases when the rescue workers called in about an incoming patient, they would say their age and some of the main problems with them.

The lady's expression changed and it was obvious she knew what he was talking about.

"Oh, him. We got a call in about fifteen minutes ago saying the ETA time was twenty minutes, so he should be coming in any time now," She said with a very intense tone. She was apparently happy to be able to help out.

"Do you know anything on his condition," Nick inquired. "Or have you heard anything on another victim?"

"I haven't heard anything on anyone else, but all I know is that he has a serious case of hypothermia and is in critical condition. You guys can wait in the waiting room and he should be coming right through those doors." She pointed to the two double doors behind them.

"Thank you for your help," Catherine said to her before she and the others found four chairs together and waited quietly.

"Hypothermia is a nasty thing," Nick said under his breath, but was heard by them all.

"Yes it is, but he can handle it," Catherine responded confidently.

They all agreed to this.

"So… What happened?" Warrick asked, even though none of them could be very sure of the answer until they got more information.

"Sounds like they had a car accident and… maybe got stuck somewhere?" Nick threw in, trying to put the few pieces they had together.

"Yes but, where could they get stuck for four days? Unless they went too far out and their car stopped, or maybe they went over a cliff, but neither one of their apartments are that far out. And I don't see why they would go anywhere other than home after the shifts they pulled and the weather."

Catherine brought up some very good points. There was a lot to ponder about, but there was really not much of a point.

"But why was he alone," Warrick said out of the blue.

It had been one of the many questions in the back of their heads that were bothering them.

Why _was _Greg alone? They knew both of them well enough to know that they would never willingly leave each other alone in a situation as serious as that, but if they knew the other one couldn't do it, then maybe.

Which meant that there was a good chance Sara was unable to go with Greg, and that was another major reason for concern.

"There's a lot we don't know right now," Grissom said, seeing the rest of them growing more worried by the second. "But we will figure it out when we get the chance. There's no point in imaging different things, because the imagination is usually worse than reality."

Another excellent point. They all grew quiet, and reentered their own minds and thoughts.

Just then, sirens were heard and the room filled up with the red and blue light mixture, signifying that an ambulance had just shown up.

A couple of doctors and nurses ran through the doors to greet the new arrivals. They heard one of them shout "It's the hypothermia case."

This sent all four of them to their feet and they slowly inched closer to the door, making sure to stay out of the way.

The doors exploded open and in came a gurney surrounded by people in light blue, green, and pink scrubs, all of them doing something different.

One yelled "Get him in Exam 3," and another was talking to him loudly, telling him to wake up. All the rest were shouting out different numbers and medical terms. None of the CSI's could catch exactly what was being said even though they had a passing knowledge of medical jargon, because they were too busy trying to get a glimpse of the actual patient.

And they got just that, a glimpse. The only problem was, the patient didn't look a whole lot like Greg. It may have been, but whoever was on that gurney was extremely white and his face was so cracked and busted, it was painful just to look at him.

They hoped deep-down that that wasn't their Greg, but they also knew that it was. They had seen some cases with hypothermic bodies, and a few that had actually been out in snow for too long, and they had seen what it could do to the body. But this was Greg for goodness sakes!

The group had already disappeared into another room where they could only be seen through a small window. And even then the people were in their way.

So, they just stared in amazement, every so often getting a clear view of the patient, but never enough to convince them it was in fact Greg. At one point, the heart monitor made a continuous beeping sound, signifying no heartbeat, but the doctors were able to bring him back within a matter of minutes.

But that didn't stop the CSI's stomachs from constricting in pain, or their breathing to practically stop.

After about another thirty minutes of the medical personnel rushing around the patient, they seemed to be getting ready to leave. They transferred the patient back onto a gurney, and made sure all cords and equipment was ready for the transfer.

They all stepped back from the doors, and watched as the gurney was wheeled away down the hall.

He man still looked just as pale, but this time they got a much better look at him, and knew that it was Greg. Even though his face was really messed up, they could make out the features that proved to be their young friend.

He was still unconscious and they could see that his lips were blue, which was a very alarming sight. But, he was quickly wheeled away, leaving them dumbstruck.

They turned back towards the door as a man in a white lab coat came walking out, removing his gloves.

"Doctor, could you tell us…" Catherine started, then pointed off to where Greg had been taken.

"Are you guys family of Mr. Sanders?" The Doctor asked, looking at them all.

"Co-Workers." Warrick answered, feeling that the doctor's question was pretty stupid.

The Doctor nodded.

"Right, well fist of all, I'm Doctor Reid," the mad said as he reached his hand out to shake theirs.

"I'm not really allowed to give out information," He continued, then added in a mischievous tone: "Unless you guys are running a case and need the information…" Doctor Reid smiled. He apparently knew their profession, probably because he knew Greg after seeing reports on the news about two missing CSI's, but either way, the man was trying to help them out.

They all caught where he was going with this and nodded. It was a fact that they had been working the case, so it wasn't really like they were lying.

"Great, then I'll be happy to tell you. I'm sure you guys know already that he has severe hypothermia, which has caused the arrhythmia and the cardiac arrest. But we got him back from that." Doctor Reid saw the fear and confusion in their eyes and went on to better explain what was going on.

"Cardiac arrest is not uncommon in stage three hypothermia cases, and they are a lot easier to bring back. As far as the arrhythmia is concerned, we are doing what we can. But it is very difficult to treat it when the patient is cold. So obviously, our first step is to warm him up and we'll do that with fluids and possibly a lavage, but we'll see."

"The other problems we will have to tend to are frost bite and frost nip, though neither one seems to have been to serious. It looks like he knew what he was doing with that. Also, from what we understand, he was in an accident, so there are various cuts and bruises on him, including a deep cut on his head, which will be cared for soon. And then there's the obvious problems like malnutrition, dehydration, and exposure."

"And our last concern is his overall health. It seems as though he may have been sick before the accident, probably with the flu that has been going around, so that could possibly cause more problems as we go on, but we'll deal with it as it comes. We've done all we can for him in the ER, and he's been taken up to the ICU on the fourth floor."

The Doctor finished his long speech, leaving the CSI's virtually questionless on Greg's condition and treatment, but there were a few more things they wanted to know.

"When will we be able to see him?" Nick asked, and the look on Doctor Reid's face looked as though it was an expected question.

"When we get him stabilized, we'll have more information on that. There's good chance he'll be waking up soon, but amnesia is possible and he will likely still be very delirious, and if we find that we can't calm him down, we may call you guys in if he's in better condition. We'd prefer to keep him awake right now. So, we'll see. For right now, you can go up to the fourth floor and they will tell you more."

They were all very thankful to have such a polite and helpful doctor, most of the time they were quite the opposite.

So, they made their way up to the fourth floor, still trying to process all that was said. The doctor had sounded very optimistic about Greg's condition, which was very good.

They went up to the front desk of the ICU floor, and this time was greeted by a young man.

"Hello, Greg Sanders was just brought up here…"

The man nodded then clicked around on his computer.

"Yes, he was taken to room 413. No visitors allowed right now, but the doctors will give you updates when they can." The man smiled politely then pointed to the waiting room chairs.

"You can all wait right over there and the bathroom and coffee room are both down the hall to your left."

"Thank you," Nick responded and they once again headed to another group of chairs.

Quiet fell over them as they waited. Warrick got up to use the bathroom and get coffee for them all about an hour after they came up to the ICU.

"Shouldn't we call Brass? He may have some updates on Sara," Nick said, breaking the silence once more.

"Yeah, but there's no reception in here. We'll have to step outside," Grissom answered. "I'll go ahead and do that, tell me if they say anything." He then got up and walked over to the elevator and then was gone.

About five minutes later, a tall brunette woman came walking down the hall and over to the group.

"Are you all here for Gregory Sanders?" She asked them, looking all three of them in the face.

They nodded and she continued.

"Ok, I'm Doctor Tate and I'll get right to the point. His body temperature is still too low, but it has improved and is continuing to do so, which is very good news. The arrhythmia is almost completely under control, and we are beginning to address the more minor problems. At first the frostbite was worrying us, but after looking over it, we see that there is very little cell damage and we expect him to gain full usage of his fingers and toes after he gives it time to heal."

She was a very beautiful woman and when she spoke, it was clear she was a professional and efficient doctor. Her words were clear and she sounded hopeful and sure that he would eventually be fine.

"To answer your next question, you should be able to see him soon, possibly in just a minute. We are usually very touchy on that, but he's awake now and is in much distress and we feel it may be beneficial to see some familiar faces."

Nick, Catherine, and Warrick all had worried expressions at the mention of Greg being "distressed." A sight that Doctor Tate picked up on and quickly addressed.

"We're not sure if amnesia is an issue right now, but he is very delirious and we believe he may still be experiencing hallucinations. I'm guessing this is one of the CSI's that was missing? The other's name is Sara, correct?"

Catherine nodded.

"Yes, they're looking for her right now."

"Good. I'm not sure if this will help, but Mr. Sanders mentioned something about a cave and a possible head injury. That was about all I could understand, but he seems to think that she was with him when he was found."

Warrick and Nick looked at each other, then back to the doctor. He must have been through a lot.

"I'm going to go check on him, and I'll be back to let you know when you can come in."

She left and the rest of them smiled tiredly. It had been a long four days and now all of this was happening so fast, they could barely hold on. Grissom still was not back yet, but none of them wanted to leave in case they got the ok to see Greg. So they waited and kept saying silent prayers for their friends.

Finally Dr. Tate returned and without saying anything, she motioned for them to follow her. They nervously walked through the hallway, not knowing what to expect when they saw him.

They reached room number 413 and followed the Doctor inside.

Greg was in the center of the room on his bed covered in a couple of blankets that only went up to his stomach area. His top half had multiple tubes protruding from him, of which they guessed were for the liquids that would warm him up. He was not trembling or anything, but his head was rolling from side to side so that he could talk to both nurses. There were words coming out, but they were barely audible and were slurred.

His face was so badly chapped. All around his mouth and nose was red and busted up.

Catherine felt her hand go up to her mouth. He looked so scared and lost. She looked at the nurses, who finished what they were doing and moved back a little so that Catherine, Warrick, and Nick could get up there to talk to Greg.

They slowly waked over to his bedside and he immediately recognized them. His eyes stayed only half opened and they were still searching all over the room, but they could tell he knew who they were.

"Cath… I… I…"

Catherine, feeling tears in her eyes, bent down lower so that she was face to face with him and ran her hand soothingly through his still cold hair.

"Shh, Greg we're right here."

She watched his eyes wander over to Nick and Warrick. He looked back to Catherine.

"Where… Sara?" he whispered.

Catherine looked over to Nick and Warrick who looked clueless as how to answer him.

"Greg, they are looking for her now. Its ok."

Something in his eyes changed. It was almost as if a light bulb went off in his head. He closed his eyes and it sounded like he was crying, but when he reopened them, they were wider than before and he was a little more focused.

"I left her… Oh God… I left her…"

Nick moved in seeing how upset Greg was getting.

"Greg, its ok. They'll find her."

"I shouldn't.. but she.. Her head. And I couldn't carry her again... I just… I left her.."

Nick looked over to Warrick, who had the same expression.

Carry her again? Like, he had to carry her once? What could have possibly happened that would prompt Greg to carry Sara? And more importantly, would Sara ever willingly let Greg carry her?

"I'm so sorry," he said quietly. His eyes were beginning to close and they could all tell that he was about to lose it.

"Greg," Warrick added, growing more and more worried at Greg's behavior. "Don't be sorry, man. We'll get her…"

"I'm sorry. Please… please find her. Head.. Feet… she was unconscious.. Shirt… blood…" And then his eyes closed and he was out.

They all stared in disbelief at what he had just said. Greg's heart monitor was beeping at a much faster rate and so was his breathing. They were pushed back by the doctors and nurses, and were asked to leave the room.

They watched through the window as the nurses inserted more liquid into IV's among other things.

What was he talking about? Head? Feet? Shirt? Blood? What did it all mean?

And as though the Lord had heard them, Grissom came rushing around the corner, looking elated.

"They found her," He said with a smile, unusual for Grissom. "She's alive."

* * *

**EN: **This one turned out a lot longer than I thought it would, which I guess it good for you guys. However, you get more reviews if you have more chapters (and if the story is good of course.) But I always hated that, you know? Like, I like big, detailed chapters. Not the little ones. And then a lot of times they'll leave you with a cliffy and then you feel so deprived and cheated… I hate that. And I would never wish that upon any of you, even if that means less reviews. Cuz I've seen a lot of stories with like… 20 chapters and a lot more reviews, but they also had a much smaller word count than my story, and I just think that's interesting is all. But we all have our own methods… Hm, I talk too much. 


	9. Obstacles

**AN:**Holy cow! This thing is almost 5,500 words. And that's not including all of my notes! Wow… its long. I hope that's ok with you guys. I really went into some explaining in this baby, and I hope its worth it for you guys. I actually like it quite a bit and has some twists in it. And man at the reviews! You guys rock!!!

**Warning: **Um… well there _may _be a really mean cliffy, but I'm not saying one way or another… And, it was beta'd, but don't rule out mistakes…. Also, a lot of changing around in here. Like, from one perspective to another...

**JN: **Anyways, last chapter was for Greg and the team, this one is for Sara and the team. How nice am I, splitting it up like that? Haha.. joking but I do try to make everyone happy... Oh, and for whoever said that my paragraphs were annoying you, I kept that in mind while writing this, and I hope you like it more. I know what you are saying, I just don't like really long paragraphs. The ones I have in here are fine though so that's as big as I'll get them.

**Happy Readings!**

* * *

When she had woke up in the cave and realized Greg wasn't there, she wasn't scared. She knew she should be and normally would be, but she wasn't. Instead, she felt numb, completely numb and detached from the world and everything in it. The only thing she could feel was a slight throbbing in her head, and pressure going all the way around it. 

For a while she just laid there, not allowing herself to think, but just looking around the cave and through the opening at the beautifully white snow. For days now she had hated it with such passion, but now that she look at it, it really was quite extraordinary. It was so white and pure. Innocent looking.

She thought about all the children who were probably out there somewhere, playing in it with sleds and maybe trashcan lids. Or making snowmen and pretending that they were coming to life. She couldn't help but smile. It was such a pleasant thought. She kind of hoped that there were people out there enjoying it since she could not.

Her thoughts became more vivid and focused now, and she decided to turn her attention back to her head. She knew that there was something off about it, something not quite right. She tried to lift her arm, but released it. It felt so heavy and unwilling to move. But she didn't care; her arm, and every other body part would simply have to obey her, regardless of what they wanted.

So, she tried again and was much more successful. Slowly, she pushed on until her numb hand was touching her head. At least, it would have been had there not been something between her hand and her head. She could tell it was some type of cloth even with her hands as cold as they were, and after gently tugging on it and seeing that it was literally tied to her head, she started to remember what had got her to this position in the first place.

The last thing she could remember was fighting with Greg about going out there alone and then trying to get herself up. Then vivid memories of the pain she inflicted on her feet flooded her memory, and thus she realized why she had apparently passed out. Which probably meant she had hit her head, and viola!

The fact that she had waken up was a good sign though, and she saw that Greg had taken care of her wound before he left. She thought about him more now. How long ago had he left? Where was he now? How long could he last out there with everything he had already been through?

All of these thoughts led to other ones like, should she go after him? Should see stay? Should she at least try to see him outside the cave?

They were annoying her really because she didn't feel like thinking. And more to the point, none of it really mattered. She was here on her own now, unable to walk and with an apparent head injury. She wasn't going anywhere.

Her only hope now was Greg, and she knew that he had been right to leave here the way he did, but it still didn't make her feel any better. The night had already fallen, and fear was starting to fill her slowly but surely.

She had never been a very religious person, but right now, she felt as though it was the only thing she had. If there really was a God, and he really did care about her and all of his children, then she had at least one person, or being, to confide in and pray to. And that's exactly what she did. Not for herself, but for Greg. That if he wasn't already dead out there somewhere, he would be able to make it to someone who could help him. Or else have help find him.

And yes, she would love to be found herself, but as long as Greg was safe, she would be content. He had already done so much for her as it was, and she knew that the main reason he left was for her. And deep down, she knew that unless there was help close, he didn't have a very good chance of being out there for too long.

Her gaze returned to the cave opening where she could see a sliver of the night sky and it occurred to her then just how bad it had gotten as the night had gone on. The wind was howling and the falling snow was making it near impossible to see. Why did it have to get so bad out there now, of all times? Just when Greg decides to be extremely brave and go further than he had so far, hell releases its furry.

She felt tears of anger well up in her eyes, but managed to wipe them away quickly so they would not freeze on her face. She felt so helpless and so much like crying. Was there really any hope? Had there been any at all in the first place? Greg was so strong, so much stronger than she, or anyone else had ever given him credit for, but how much can one human being endure? How much can a body go through, on good intentions and adrenaline before it could do no more? She had been so sure that his breaking point was long before this, which had given her hope for him after he repeatedly defied those odds, but honestly, she couldn't expect this much of him.

She was still not angry at him for leaving her, even though in her own mind, he was dead anyway. And going out there would inevitably result in his death, and so she would have preferred him to stay, and then they could at least die together. But then again, the chances of both of them dying at the same time were very slim, which would mean one would have to watch the other die, and she couldn't bare that though.

She shut her eyes as tight as she could and imagined that when she opened them, she would be back in her home, enjoying the heat and maybe even that shower she had wanted so bad. It happened a lot in the movies, and she could really go for it now. But when she opened them, nothing had changed.

Well, almost nothing.

There did seem to be a little extra light outside her cave. Not like sunlight though, but a much smaller light. Maybe like car headlights or even a flashlight. But that didn't make any sense at all. She didn't take her eyes off the opening though, and she practically stopped breathing when she heard a very faint yell.

Surely she was imagining it. She knew that one of the symptoms of hypothermia was hallucinations, which had to be the case here. But would she know if she was having a hallucination? That also didn't make sense because if one knew they were having a hallucination whenever they got one, it wouldn't really be a hallucination, now would it?

Which meant… no. Couldn't be, could it?

_"Sara Sidle,"_ Came a loud, but still far away voice from outside her cave. 

Her heart stopped and she seemed to freeze, metaphorically speaking. She felt like a dear caught in a headlight. _Say something_, she told herself. Do something, _anything!_

She tried to say something, but nothing came out. Her throat was very sore and she couldn't find her voice. She immediately felt like Rose from _The Titanic _movie when the rescue boats came back, but she was so cold, she could barely speak. Sara kept trying, but kept failing. She thought back to Rose and how she managed to be heard, and while Sara did not have a whistle, she did have something else.

She turned her head to the left and saw that the bag of food was sitting right beside her. She smiled, and quietly thanked Greg for moving it beside her. She forced her arms to move again, and started to crinkle the bags of chips and cookies, making quite a bit of noise.

_"Do you hear that,"_ Someone yelled, now closer to her. Her heart started racing now and she knew that she would have to step up her noise making, so she grabbed three bags, used all her might to drag her closer to the opening, then placed the bags on the ground, and prepared to bust them. 

She brought her arm up as high as she could, then slammed it down on one of the bags. The loud pop frightened her, but exhilarated her at the same time. It was definitely louder than just crinkling and would surely lead them to her.

"_Over here somewhere…_"

Sara raised her arm up again, then slammed it down on another bag, creating an equally loud pop.

"Sara Sidle?!"

"Wait, I think I see something."

Sara smiled widely, and raised her arm up once more, and was about to slam it down when a face appeared through the cave opening. He smiled wide and had the most charming eyes.

"We're here to rescue you, Ms. Sidle. Care to join us?"

Her smile grew even wider. She saw behind the man a large vehicle that was used especially for dealing with deep snow, and a few large trucks behind it. Greg must have sent the whole damn rescue party!

She was safe.

* * *

This news could have brought them to their knees it was so wonderful. Sara was not only found, but was also alive. 

"Did you hear anything on her condition," Nick asked, remembering how they had gotten some information on Greg before he had showed up.

"Only that she's awake, but that in itself is better that what we got from Greg," Grissom answered smiling, though he still had a worried look on as he gazed through the window at the commotion that was still taken place in Greg's room.

The others followed his eyes and their smiles also died down slightly. They knew that Greg still had a long way to go before he would be ok, and that there were still obstacles in his way, but for right now he was safe. And now they knew that Sara was safe _and _awake. And as Grissom had said, that was better news than what they had gotten than when Greg was coming in.

"When will she be here?' Warrick asked, wanting to change the subject and eager to see Sara, just to make sure for himself that she was in fact alive.

"Probably in about ten minutes," Grissom answered. "They brought the entire rescue team for her, so she should get here fast and safely."

"Well, some of us should go down there then," Catherine chimed in, smiling from ear to ear.

"Yes, I was thinking the same thing. You three can go down there if you want, and I'll stay up here with Greg. I did leave him before, after all." Grissom said genuinely. It wasn't that he didn't want to see Sara, but from what he understood, she was doing a lot better than Greg was, and besides, he wanted to give her some time before he came in there on her.

The other three nodded, but looked cautiously back in Greg's room.

"He was a bit hysterical, Gil," Catherine said in a solemn voice. "He's not completely there, but he's really upset about leaving Sara. I'm worried about him."

"We all are, Cath," Warrick said as he draped his arm around her.

"I promise to take care of him. Now get down there before she gets here," Grissom said, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

They smiled softly, then quickly made their way to the elevator.

Grissom turned back to Greg, and lowered his head slightly at the boy's white face and blue lips and wondered what all he and Sara had gone through.

* * *

It wasn't long after they got down to the first floor that they noticed how different it had become. Just outside the doors were groups of people with microphones addressing the cameras stuck in their faces, apparently waiting for the arrival of one of the missing CSIs they had been reporting on for the last few days. The CSIs wrinkled their noses at this and wondered how Sara would take having cameras and mikes shoved in her face, but they were glad that the news hounds had not been here when Greg came in, because they knew that his broken face would have been all over the news. Now they just hoped that Sara was in better condition. 

And just like before, the ominous blue and red lights engulfed the room, making their hearts race in anticipation at what they were about to see. They prayed that she was ok, and that she was in fact better than Greg was.

They watched from inside as the news people began to swarm around the incoming patient, but was delighted to see the large rescue people push them back. They didn't get a good look at her until she came through the doors, where the reporters were not allowed.

Her initial features showed a small amount of fear and confusion, probably at the group of people that had just bombarded her, but other than that, she looked fantastic. She looked absolutely exhausted, but they had her sitting up and tightly wrapped in redish orange blankets. Around her head appeared to be some type of shirt held on by another piece of cloth. It confused them at first, but their attention was thrown from that when her eyes met theirs.

She beamed at the sight of them. Even though she was tired and hurting, her face lit up. And besides the fact that she was shaking and trembling and her teeth were chattering, she looked gorgeous and almost normal. Her face was chapped and cracked from the cold, but not nearly as bad as Greg's had been.

They got closer to her and was pleased to see that they weren't pushed back.

"I… I.. thought I… woudn't s..see you guys again.." She choked out through trembles, still beaming.

"You can't get rid of us that easily," Nick retorted, also smiling wider than he had in four days.

She looked at all of them.

"Where's.. Greg?"

They exchanged looks quickly, trying not to let Sara notice their worried features.

"He's upstairs sweetie. Grissom is with him." Catherine answered, putting her smile back on for Sara.

Sara kept shaking but laid her head back against the headboard behind her. She was still grinning, but she seemed to be allowing herself to rest more now that she knew Greg was at the hospital and safe. Catherine, Nick, and Warrick allowed the gurney to get ahead of them, but continued to follow closely behind. They wheeled her into a much smaller room than Greg had had, and saw that it wasn't exactly the same kind of room that extreme emergencies get taken into, like Greg had been taken to.

The group herded into the room and off to the side, well out of the doctor's way but within Sara's eyesight. She had reopened her eyes and was staring at them again, obviously tickled to see them.

Most of the rescue workers said their goodbyes to Sara and left, but two remained to fill in the doctor that was walking into the room. They were glad to see Dr. Reid again, knowing that they would be treated nicely. He smiled at them, then turned to Sara and greeted her with a warm, genuine smile.

"You must be Sara Sidle," He said loudly as he started to rummage through different drawers and machines.

She just smiled back at him. He looked up to her head and frowned, then turned to the remaining rescue workers who know he was questioning the make-shift bandage on her head.

"We think the blood froze it to her head and we had no reason to think that it was still bleeding and didn't have the recourses to take it off gently. She was awake and everything."

The doctor seemed fine with their answers, knowing that he would prefer to get it off himself rather than have them attempt to rip it off the poor girl's head.

"I see, and did you do this yourself, Ms. Sidle?" Dr. Reid asked, looking carefully at the shirt and the wound beneath.

"N..no," Sara answered, and looked down with a grin. "I w..was out when G..Greg did that.."

Dr. Reid cocked his eyebrows. "Gregory Sanders did this," he responded sounding surprised.

Sara nodded and the doctor made a little "hmm," sounding impressed. He then looked over to the rescue workers who were beginning to speak again.

"The guy did a lot more than just that," one said, looking down at Sara's feet. "The only other major problem we saw was the frostbite on her feet, but it was luckily taken pretty good care of. Then the hypothermia. The rest is yours, Doc." The man turned to Sara. "You are a very brave young woman, Sara. And if I don't get the pleasure of meeting this Greg you've told us about, tell him the same."

With that, they waved then left. Sara sat there, letting the doctor check her over some more and she looked back over to her friends.

"How are you feeling, Sar?" Warrick asked as the doctor was moving down to her feet.

"C…Cold." She replied with a small grin. The others couldn't help but be overwhelmingly happy with her good spirits and the fact that she was pretty healthy considering all she must have went through and the state they had seen Greg in.

"Well Ms. Sidle," Dr. Reid said as he finished looking at her discolored feet. "I feel pretty confident that you will make a full recovery from the frostbite down here, but we will need a specialist to come in and do it right. You'll be in a wheelchair for a while, but I think you can handle that. I _will_ say that you got pretty close to seriously damaging some cells here. Good thing you took care of yourself."

Sara laughed out loud at this comment. "That.. w..would also b..be Greg."

Dr. Reid raised his eyebrows again. "Well maybe he should consider becoming a doctor by the sounds of it."

The others just stood astounded by what Sara was saying. Greg had done all of that? Sara looked at them, then back to the doctor.

"W..when can I see…h..him?" She asked, still shaking like a leaf.

A nurse then came in and placed another blanket over her.

"Well, you have mild hypothermia, of which we'll be using blankets and such to correct. It shouldn't take long for your body to normalize. As for your head, we are going to need to get a CT scan, just to make sure and dress the wound properly. Until then, we'll start you on an IV drip to fix the dehydration." He said, glad that her condition was going to be fairly easier than the patient before her.

"And if I'm not mistaken," he continued, "Your wrist is a little swollen there, now isn't it?" He looked down to her wrist, then to her eyes.

"Y...yes, the car ac.. accident," She replied. "But it hasn't r…really hurt sin..since then."

"I see. We will check it out none-the-less."

Sara suddenly looked displeased with the doctor and was looking at him expectantly. He didn't seem to notice, but her friends did and before she had to say anything, they did it for her.

"You didn't answer her question, Dr. Reid," Nick said in a very polite manner, not wanting to upset the man, but wanting to take care of Sara.

Dr. Reid responded with a questioning look, of which was answered by Catherine this time.

"She wanted to know when she would be allowed to see Greg."

The doctor sighed. Not in an annoyed way, but more-so in a nervous, or bad news way. It immediately startled them, especially Catherine, Nick, and Warrick because they had not seen the man look this way before.

"That honestly depends on him," he answered, lowering his eyes as to not look any of them in the face. "He is in a much more serious condition, and I just got an update that further complications were beginning to appear." He brought his eyes back up to the group, but ignored Sara. "Its nothing that can't technically be corrected, but he's been through a lot, and quite honestly, he should have been dead long ago. That does not mean he will end up that way, but he has a long recovery ahead and many obstacles before he gets there. And unfortunately, one of them is happening now. But believe me, we are working as hard as we can."

The Doctor offered them a very supportive look, then turned back to Sara who looked as though she was going to be sick. Her eyes were no longer in any way lively and no trace of a smile or grin was left. She was even shaking a lot less than she had been before. The blankets must have been working wonders.

"Ms. Sidle," Dr. Reid said in a very serious tone, placing his hand on her shoulder and looking her straight in the eyes. "I do not know Mr. Sanders, but from what I've heard he's a strong young man. He will make it through this, and so will you. Now, I'm going to schedule a CT scan and I'll be back in a moment."

Once he was gone, only the CSIs remained, all looking sympathetically at Sara. They too were shocked at the doctor's new words, having not noticed any 'obstacle' other than the hypothermia and such for Greg, but they could see Sara's eyes and knew she needed them.

They gathered around her, giving her tired smiles, not really knowing what to say that would comfort her. She looked up at them.

"I thought he would b..be dead," She finally said, a new smile refilling her face. "But isn't it just like Greg t…to prove me wrong."

The others laughed at what she said, knowing how true it was.

"He saved me a c…couple times," she continued. "He was so sick after our sh…shift, he actually fell as..asleep on the locker-room bench." She laughed at this memory while the others smiled. "I told him I would dr…drive him home, and of course, he fought m…me. But I won."

They grinned again. They had been wanting to know what happened the night they disappeared and the days following it, though they wondered if this was a good time for it. None of them spoke up because it seemed like she wanted to tell them.

"I still don't know where w…we ended up, but he fell asleep, and I d…didn't want to w…wake him, so I kept going and the n…next thing I knew, we were going down the side of a cliff."

So, the first question answered: They got lost then went down a cliff. It had been one of the many possibilities the CSIs had come up with, but also one of the ones they feared happening the most.

"Neither one of us h…had our phones, so after a day of sitting in the c…car, we started to w…walk. God, he was so sick, but he insisted," A tear rolled down her face now as she relived the last four hellish days. "We went l…left, but there was nothing."

The others sensed pain and slight hints of anger in her words, though it did not surprise them at all. What she was saying had been very scary and hard times for her, and they could only expect for her to show emotion as she went through it all again.

"We t…turned back. B…but my feet started to hurt, and of course, Greg n…noticed," she shook her head in mock annoyance, remembering his stubbornness and knowing that she was nearing one of the most painful parts of the story.

"He… he carried me," she blurted out, tears now rolling down her cheeks. "I… I _let _him carry me, all because of m…my feet! He was so sick," she repeated. "And," she continued, now letting out a sarcastic laugh. "I actually f…fell asleep on him! What… what kind of a p…person does that?!" She was now sobbing and couldn't continue speaking.

They were so shocked and beyond words. They could see the pain and guilt on her face and in every word she spoke as clear as day, but knew she had no reason to feel it. They moved in, Nick wrapping his arms around her, holding her as she cried into his shoulder. He was careful not to hold her too tight though, not wanting to hurt her anymore than she already was.

"Sara, hun… You have nothing to feel guilty about." Warrick said trying to calm her down.

Nick agreed and added to his words. "Look, you know Greg. He would never let anything happen to you. He would have been more upset if you hadn't let him help you."

Sara brought her head out from beneath his arms and looked up at him, still crying.

"And w…what kind of person does that m… make me? I m…must not care a lot about him…"

"You know that's not true," Catherine said in her motherly tone, stopping all the babying. "You care for him as much as he cares for you, and we care for the both of you. Now, you may not think you did much to help him, but you would be very surprised."

Sara stopped crying and looked up at her.

"What do you mean?" She asked, wiping tears away.

"Well, from what I hear, you were with him before he was found…" Catherine said, almost as if she was gossiping about boys and who had a crush on who.

Sara cocked an eyebrow at this statement. "What? No. I was in the c…cave."

"Well, that's not what _he _said," Warrick added with a sly smile.

Sara was now thoroughly confused. What in the world were they talking about, and if they were telling the truth, why would Greg say that?

"Look Sar, I know Greg really well, and I know he's a great guy that everyone underestimates," Nick said in a serious manner. "But he would be nothing without goals. And, as much as I love the guy, he doesn't have enough respect for himself to go out of his way and set goals just for his own hide. I can guarantee that you are the only reason he's alive right now, because if it had only been him out there, he would have probably never even gotten out of the car."

And that was that. Nick was not entirely sure that was one hundred percet true, but he felt confident that he was close on his assessment of his young friend. Greg had always been the one to appear egotistical, but it was all a show he put on, and it was really just for the benefit of others because he knew he made them laugh. Other's may have never noticed it, but Greg always thought of himself as what everyone teased him about being: geeky and nerdy. But his goal had always been to keep others happy and entertained, especially because he knew what kind of drain the job had on people, and he hated that.

He knew that over ninety percent of what he did out there was for Sara, and Sara only.

No one else had anything to contribute on this, not that anything could top it. It seemed to convince Sara enough to make her stop sobbing, which was a relieving sight. All she did was reach out once more for Nick, and grabbed the other two's hands, and felt so warm there.

Seconds later, the doctor returned, ready to take Sara up for the CT scan, while the others said they'd be back when she got done. Sara specifically told them to go back up to Greg and tell her how he was doing when she got back.

* * *

Grissom had watched things turn from bad to worse. Once, Greg had woke up, but didn't say anything, just looked up at the ceiling, scared and started breathing very deeply, or was trying to anyway. He looked to be in so much pain. And it was at that point that the first of many horrible coughs shook his already frail body. The Doctors and nurses became more frantic with him and continued in with the fluids and such. 

Grissom sighed inwardly. He could sense from the doctors that they were expecting much more than what he had come in with initially when they were talking to him earlier, and it worried him to see Greg like this. A couple of times he thought about Sara and how she was doing, but then Greg would emit another heart-rattling cough which always brought Grissom back to him.

It had been about an hour after Catherine and the other two left now, and quite a bit had changed with Greg. Grissom half hoped that they would come back so he could get an update on Sara and hopefully get some needed good news, but on the other hand, he didn't want the team to see Greg like this.

Grissom looked back into the room and noticed that Greg now had a breathing mask over his mouth and nose to help him breath but coughs continued to rattle him, making him look smaller and weaker than ever. However, he did seem to be a lot more focused and aware of his surroundings. Whether or not that was a good thing remained to be seen.

Grissom then noticed Dr. Tate addressing the nurses and they began to get Greg ready for what appeared to be another transfer. This worried Grissom more than anything. And just as he suspected, they were now wheeling him out of the room. Grissom saw Greg look at him, and his knees about buckled at the sight of Greg's pleading scared eyes. It even looked as though Greg was starting to reach out to Grissom, but he was hurried along.

"Wait, can I go with him," Grissom called after them, knowing exactly what Greg wanted right now and would do everything he could to be with the young CSI.

The nurses continued to push Greg away, but Dr. Tate fell behind and solemnly turned to Grissom and began to talk.

"Not right now, but he will be right back. We uh, we're taking him up to get a chest x-ray," she lowered her gaze, as though she had been fearing this. "We suspect pneumonia."

Grissom then realized that the rest of his CSIs were there behind him. They had apparently come up just in time to get this new information. Grissom noticed Catherine's hand go back up to her mouth, while Nick and Warrick bit their lips in frustration.

"Well," Warrick said suddenly. "Well what does that mean?"

The female doctor took a deep breath and had one of those '_warning, this is bad news_' looks on her face that sent chills down their spines.

"Well, if he has it, it will probably be viral, in which case antibiotics won't help and that means we… we'll have to just wait it out."

"Wait it out? For, for how long are we talking here," Nick asked, sounded annoyed, frustrated and scared all at once.

Dr. Tate shook her head, knowing that with every question they asked, more bad news would follow.

"Well, if its bacterial, probably around one to two weeks…"

"But, you said viral," Catherine correct.

"In which case it will be more like four to six weeks." She answered, feeling very sorry for giving such worrisome news.

"But, he's so weak right now," Grissom finally said, looking the doctor right in the eyes and seeing that this problem was also the main concern of the doctor's as well.

"I know." She said simply. "We're going to do what we can and as long as he can stay strong, then he'll have a good chance." She finished, then started to slowly step away from them. "I have to go now, but we'll have him back in a few minutes. He's awake and alert now, so he may need you guys." With that, she turned away and was rounding the corner where they had just taken Greg.

They stood in silence, just watching the same place the Dr. had been.

"Please," Grissom said, addressing the others without looking at them. "Please tell me you have some good news on Sara."

"Lots." Catherine replied, still shocked from Greg's turn for the worse.

Grissom turned to face them.

"Good. I need it."

* * *

I'm so sorry guys. I know you don't like cliffies, but as I was writing, one thing led to another and I'm suddenly at twelve pages… which to me is a sign that I need to end the chapter… so… Sorry. But it won't be long now. One, maybe two chapters left, depending on what happens next. Expect two though, just for a follow-up if nothing else. Again, I'm sorry about the cliffy, but at least you all know that Sara is doing great, and that's better than nothing, right? Thanks for reading everyone! 


	10. Stop Playing Tricks On Me

**AN: **There's a lot of reasons why this one is so late, but I'll some it up by saying the blame falls on real life and writer's block. That's right, writing this chapter was like nails on a chalkboard so I really don't expect you guys to love it. I'll try to make it up to you all with the next/last chapter.

**TV Talk: **Ok, I mentioned saving _Jericho_ a few chapters back, and I don't know if any of you did anything to help, but we did bring it back from the dead which is a big deal and has only happened a couple of times. So, we're awesome. Try to check it out: reruns will start on **July 6th and they will continue on Friday's at 9:00 PM**. Thanks guys!

And who here has ever watched _Heroes_. Oh my goodness, I've heard a lot about it, so I decided to check it out and I'm in love with it! Man… Milo Ventimiglia (Peter) is amazingly good-looking! Haha, you can't blame me… I'm a teenage girl.. Its natural.

**Warning: **Beware of mistakes. Beta'd as best as I could but I'm not feeling great about errors in this one. Heck, not feeling great about this one at all...

Alright, go read this sucky chapter!!

* * *

_He was numb. There was literally no other way to explain it. It could not feel any of his physical body parts, but he could distinctly feel a certain pressure on his lungs, as though someone was squeezing them, making it difficult and painful to breathe. And every now and then, a cough would rip through him, shredding his lungs and throat. _

_But he over-looked it all as Grissom entered his room. An odd radiant light shined behind him, giving Greg a sense of hope, however, the look of his boss' face gave Greg a much more negative feeling. _

_Grissom's eyes were puffy and red, his lips tucked between his teeth. The look gave Greg a major sense of foreboding. There was no way Grissom had come into his room to tell him anything good. _

_Greg figured it couldn't be anything about himself seeing as how he was awake and coherent. And there were also no doctors or nurses frantically moving around him, so he seemed to be doing ok. Which meant the news would probably revolve around Sara._

_But if this news was going to be as bad as the look on Grissom's face, Greg didn't want to hear it. And somehow, he knew what Grissom was going to say. It was the same two words Greg had been fearing ever since he left her in the first place._

"_Sara's dead." Grissom said without any warning. _

_Greg froze. There it was. That was it. Everything he had done, all that he had tried to do… none of it mattered because she was dead. _

_Greg seemed to leave Grissom and retreated into his own mind that was dangerously full of guilt and depressing thoughts. But he deserved it. He had left her all alone in a cave surrounded by nothing but snow with a head injury! What in the world had he been thinking?! _

The next few moments were a big blur as a bright light blinded him and people's voices filled the space around him. His room changed slowly from being empty, to being filled with nurses and machines. He was so confused. Where was Grissom? Where was he? And why did he feel so horrible?

Well, the first question shouldn't be much of a surprise… Grissom had loved Sara, of course he would be angry with the man that left her in the middle of nowhere dying, just to end up alive himself. Grissom would never forgive him, and neither would the rest of the team.

Greg closed his eyes and felt the need to cry but nothing would come out.

The doctors were now talking directly to him, saying different things and asking him a multitude of questions, but he didn't want to hear any of it and more importantly, he couldn't answer because he couldn't breathe.

He started to panic a little now. He couldn't seem to hang on to any rational thoughts except for the fact that Sara was dead.

Thankfully he felt something being placed over his mouth and nose and was relieved when the air filled his lungs, easing the burning feeling.

Another cough made its way recklessly through him, each time causing more pain. The next thing he knew, he was being pushed out of his room. Right when he got through the door way, he saw his supervisor standing over him with a nauseous and worried look.

Greg saw the pain in his eyes, which was all around unusual for Gil Grissom and knew it was because he had let Sara die. Greg wanted so badly to tell him that he was sorry and that he never wanted that, but then he was gone and Greg was now entering a new room.

As the people surrounding him got him ready for something else, some type of x-ray it seemed, one small and long over-due tear rolled down his cheek.

* * *

Grissom smiled, so relieved to hear what they were telling him about Sara. He wanted to see her so bad now, but she was probably still getting the scan done so they all waited in the ICU waiting room once again, telling all they could about Sara to temporarily keep their minds off of Greg's current condition.

"God Grissom, she looked so good and she was smiling… Man she smiled so big," Nick said blissfully, as if the world had suddenly been removed from his shoulders.

The others joined him in his mood, still thinking of Sara and remembering the welcome she had given them. Those memories also brought back the other ones, the ones where Sara told her version of what happened out there.

They had hinted at it to Grissom, but hadn't come right out and said everything Sara had told them. Probably because it involved Greg and none of them wanted to get into the subject at the present moment. Call them weak, but for days they had been hoping and praying that their team members would be found alive, and at the moment they were. And that's all they wanted to think about right now, not that there was a possibility that one wouldn't make it.

"You said she had a head wound," Grissom brought up, taking a step out of the more comfortable talk of her healthy state. "Did it look bad?"

Catherine breathed in deeply. "We didn't actually see it," she said, looking knowingly over to Warrick and Nick, then chuckled lightly. "There was a shirt wrapped around it."

Grissom looked at her, wondering what that meant.

"It was apparently Greg's version of gauze." Warrick answered Grissom's questioning look.

They sat in silence for a second at the mention of the youngest CSI. They couldn't avoid the topic for too long, knowing that he would be back to his room at any moment.

The thing that made them most uncomfortable was the fact that he doctors couldn't just give him a magic formula or fill his body with warm fluids and make this go away. It was something that Greg would have to deal with on his own, even though they all planned on being there for him every step of the way.

"We told Sara we would be back when she was done," Nick said, breaking the silence and bringing up a new issue: Who would stay with who?

"I think two of us should stay up here, and the other two go back down to Sara," Catherine added, though they had all been thinking the same thing.

Warrick nodded. "Griss, you should probably go see Sara. It will make you feel a little better. Besides, she wanted to know what was going on with Greg and you know more than us."

This was a good point and while Grissom did not want to leave Greg or be the one to tell Sara that Greg was not doing so great, he did feel that he was the best one for the job. And he did really want to see Sara.

That left the other three. Who would join Grissom and who would stay with and wait for Greg.

"I'll go down there with you Griss," Warrick said, solving that problem. It wasn't that he didn't want to see Greg but he knew that Nick was a lot closer to the guy and Catherine had that whole motherly element that Greg may need, so he ruled himself out.

Grissom nodded then looked seriously over to Nick and Catherine.

"If anything changes, anything at all, one of you come get me immediately." He wasn't sure why he had to say this, but it seemed important to him at the time. He felt bad about leaving Greg again but the others were right; he really needed to see Sara right now.

Warrick and Grissom then left, leaving Nick and Catherine in the waiting room.

They sat quietly until their thoughts were too much for them to bare alone.

"You uh, you really think Greg did all that," Nick asked, feeling almost as if he was down-talking Greg by asking a question like this, but what Sara had said he did had been remarkable and kind of hard to wrap one's head around.

Catherine looked over to him and saw the reluctance in his eyes to ask the question, but it had been something she had been thinking about herself.

"You know what," She replied, feeling more certain now. "I do. And you want to know why? I think that he is exactly how you described him to Sara: he just set some goals and God knows Greg can and will do whatever it takes to get them."

Nick suddenly felt worse for asking. It had been a bit demeaning to Greg, seeing him as being possibly incapable of doing all of that stuff that Sara had said he did.

"Yeah… I shouldn't have…" Nick started, but Catherine quickly interrupted him.

"I didn't mean it that way. What Sara said he did is… well it sounds almost impossible and we've always seen Greg as a goofball kid, it's only natural to question it."

They both agreed to this and returned to silence until Dr. Tate came back. Catherine and Nick both stood up as she approached them, ready for more information.

"It _is _viral pneumonia." She said quickly, not bothering to warm up to the news. "He's awake still but he hasn't said much. His temperature is still going down, which is good, but that cough… its going to wear him out even more…" She began to trail off.

"We want to see him," Nick said simply with a hint of boldness. He had every intention of seeing Greg and hopefully making him feel better.

Dr. Tate nodded. "I'm sure he would like that. He's in control of the mask right now, so when he wants it, he can put it on and also, pneumonia is technically contagious, though its unusual for the disease to pass from person to person. But, if you feel uncomfortable going in there, then you may want to consider not going in or you can use a mask if you would like."

Catherine and Nick understood. Neither of them wanted pneumonia, but their eagerness to see Greg outweighed the risk of catching the disease, and neither felt the need to wear a mask.

They nodded, indicating that they were both ready, then followed the doctor towards Greg's room.

"We have him on some lighter drugs, but he will still be getting drowsy so don't expect him to stay awake for too long," The doctor said quickly as she walked through the hallway.

When they finally reached the room, they were pleased to see less nurses in there. There were now only two, both of which were working with different machines and doing something with Greg's IV.

And below them was Greg, still white and gaunt, but awake. Heseemed upset; his eyes were only half opened, but seemed red and all of his movements were slow and filled with pain. Nick and Catherine immediately felt heart-sick at the sight of him. They had both known him long enough to know when he was truly upset.

They slowly walked over to him, and when he looked over to them, he stared for only a moment before turning away. They could see that his eyes were getting wetter now and his face was becoming more contorted. The sight startled them because he seemed to be getting more upset now that they were in there.

Catherine got closest to him and bent down slightly to get closer.

"Greg…" She cooed. "How are you feeling?"

He still wouldn't look at her, but she could now see tears forming and beginning to roll down his face. He quickly shifted his eyes over to her, then looked away again.

"I… I'm sorry." He choked out. His voice was barely audible still and it was apparent that he was still having problems breathing. He sucked in breath, then shakily brought his hand up to his face and Catherine saw that he had placed the breathing mask on himself.

She looked back at Nick, unsure of what to do about Greg's behavior.

"Greg, you have nothing to be sorry about," She said with a scared smile. "At all."

He took another deep breath from the mask, then removed it and finally looked Catherine in the eyes.

"I know…" He started, then took another gulp of air from the mask. "I know she's… Grissom told me." After he painfully got this out, another series of coughs made their way through him, causing Catherine to take a step back and the nurses to look at them suspiciously, as if they were trying to make him sick.

Catherine was thoroughly confused. What was he talking about? There was no way Grissom had told him anything because he had not been allowed in Greg's room yet.

She looked nervously over to Nick, who now came in to talk to his friend.

"Greg… Grissom hasn't came in here yet.." Nick spoke in a quiet, sincere tone. But Greg looked at him as though he was crazy. He took the breathing mask off.

"No." Greg began. "He was in here… and told me that she's… she's d…dead." Tears were now falling consistently, though he was not exactly crying. The only sign of crying was the tears, but otherwise, he was fairly calm, but he looked so tired and defeated.

Nick backed away a little and looked over to Catherine who shared the same confused look.

"Who's dead?" She asked, though she knew who Greg was talking about.

But he didn't answer, just looked away from them and after another heart-wrenching cough, he pulled the mask away with a lot less strength, then breathed out "Sara."

Before they could say anything, Greg turned his head away from then and was out.

Nick and Catherine looked worriedly to each other. Greg truly believed that Grissom had come into his room and told him that Sara was dead.

They looked around the room and realized that Dr. Tate had already left, leaving the two of them alone with Greg and the nurses.

"He needs to know the truth," Nick said suddenly. "If I was right about him, then he thinks he failed his goals and he won't fight it."

Catherine nodded. "I know. We need to get Grissom or Sara in here. It was apparently another hallucination or maybe a dream… but we need to clear it up or he doesn't stand a chance."

"I'll go tell Gil and Sara, you stay up here in case he wakes up again, ok?" Catherine continued, then looked sadly over to Greg who was having the mask placed back on him. Nick agreed, then watched Catherine rush out of the room.

* * *

They had beat Sara to her room, but just barely. They were only in there for about five minutes before she was wheeled in. And she was just as the others had explained her to be. She lit up when she saw Grissom and Warrick there.

"Grissom…" She said quietly as the nurse pushed her into place and adjusted her blankets.

Grissom just smiled at her, relieved beyond words at the sight of her so healthy looking considering what she could look like. They had apparently taken care of the shirt that was mentioned to Grissom earlier because she now had a white bandage over her injury.

Sara noticed him looking and explained what they had found.

"No brain damage," she said with a grin. "Slight concussion. Nothing bad."

"That's excellent news," Grissom replied.

"Yeah Sar, you look great," Warrick added, stepping closer to her bedside.

"Maybe I should get lost in the snow more often. Everyone is so nice."

Warrick and Grissom laughed at her comment, though they would prefer that nothing like this ever happened again.

"So…" Sara began, looking back and forth between Grissom and Warrick. When they didn't respond, she continued. "So… How's Greg? I take it Nick and Catherine are with him…"

Warrick sighed, stepped back a little, and looked expectantly at Grissom. Sara followed his gaze and was also waiting for Grissom's answer.

"He has pneumonia."

Sara squinted at his words.

"That's… pretty nasty. Viral or bacterial?" She wasn't exactly freaking out or anything, just seemed very calm about the news, which was greatly appreciated by Grissom and Warrick.

"They're pretty sure it's viral." Warrick answered, feeling more confident with Sara's calm reaction.

Sara nodded slowly, taking in this news. She began thinking about how one of her friends had had pneumonia once and how horrible it had been.

"I told him he would catch something, but he's just so stubborn," she said under her breath.

No one responded to her, but she wasn't really expecting them to anyway.

"I want to see him." It wasn't a question at all and Grissom and Warrick knew that.

"We'll have to make sure it's ok with everyone first," Warrick said reasonably. This much was true. She had been told earlier that it all depended on Greg, but she felt pretty sure he would want to see her, so the only problem would be if his condition permitted it.

"Well, then do it please. Or I will. It really doesn't matter to me. You just have to understand, he saved my life and apparently my feet," she looked down to her wrapped up feet. "I just want to see for myself that he's alive. I thought for sure he… well, that he wouldn't make it."

"We understand, Sara. We'll do what we can." Grissom offered with a positive smile. He could only guess how she felt and knew how he had felt when he got the news that his two CSIs were alive and could only guess how different it was for Sara.

Just then, Catherine came through the door looking very determined. Once she was in, she slowed down her movements, knowing that Sara was tired and had no intentions of getting her, or any of them, all worked up. However, Grissom and Warrick knew that there were only so many reasons why Catherine would be flying into Sara's room like this so soon after they left her.

"What is it," Grissom asked suddenly.

"Is he…" Sara breathed, her heart beginning to beat faster.

"No," Catherine said quickly. "He's not… he's okay. He just… well he thinks you're dead, Sara."

No one said anything at first; it was really quite a surprising thing to find out, even though they all knew that Sara wasn't really dead at all.

"Why," Warrick asked.

"Apparently Grissom told him she was."

Everyone turned to Grissom who furrowed his brow in confusion.

"What are you talking about," he asked. "I haven't even been allowed in his room."

"I know, but he's convinced." Catherine said breathlessly.

"I need to go up there, Grissom. If he did hallucinate it, then he won't know what to believe."

Grissom nodded knowingly.

"I'll go tell the doctor," Warrick said while standing up. He walked out and moments later came back in following behind Dr. Reid who was pushing a wheelchair.

"So I hear we're going on a rescue mission of sorts," He said broadly.

"Well, Greg thinks I'm dead…" Sara said, eyeing the wheelchair.

"I see. Well, there will be some rules, as I'm sure you could have guessed. First of all, no leaving the chair. You both apparently worked very hard to keep them in working order so we shall try to keep it that way."

The doctor was not only addressing Sara, but Warrick and Grissom as well because he knew as well as they did that she may not do as told.

"And secondly, as long as his mask his on, you won't need one." Sara looked at him questioningly. "You've spent the last four days in a snowstorm, Ms. Sidle. You're immune system probably isn't at it's best right now. So, we take the needed precautions to keep you pneumonia-less."

Sara nodded and prepared herself to get into the wheelchair. Before he went over to her, Dr. Reid made a pit-stop at Warrick and handed him a mask and said "Just in case." He then headed over to Sara, and along with the other two CSIs, managed to get her from the bed to the chair without making her use her feet.

Once she was covered up and ready to go, they made their way up to the fourth floor.

They were on his floor now and as she was pushed by the glass walls, she saw into the rooms every now and then and saw the injured or sick people and their families by their sides. And before she knew it, she was looking into Greg's room, though he couldn't really be seen from the hallway. The only reason she knew it was Greg's room was because she could see Nick hovering over the person on the bed.

As they entered, Nick looked back to see Sara being rolled in followed by the other CSIs. He smiled quickly to greet her, then turned back to Greg who was apparently awake again.

"Greg," he said softly. "Sara's here. We all are. We're here now."

Sara looked back to Warrick who was in control of her wheelchair. He got the hint and pushed her forward. Nick stepped back, allowing her to get as close as she could.

At first, Greg didn't look at her, but she could see that his face was damp from tears and his eyes were just barely open. He did have the mask on that Dr. Reid had warned her about. She felt Warrick put something on her lap and saw that it was a mask for herself.

Just then, Greg emitted another cough causing Sara to wince. Once it was over, Greg seemed to be a little more awake. He moved his eyes over to her without moving his head, but looked away again. His breathing slowed down and he finally started to turn his head to look at her.

Right away she saw the pain in his eyes and felt her heart breaking as more tears rolled down his face.

He slid his hand up until he reached the mask on his face and before he slipped it off, Sara reached out and lightly touched his arm.

"You should keep that on Greg," she said softly, but he didn't listen to her and pulled it away from his face.

"I shouldn't… have left you."

Sara began to run her hand through his hair.

"No Greg, you should have. And because you did, I'm alive," she responded with a warm smile.

Greg looked up in her eyes and she could see the fear and confusion in them now.

"You… no.." He placed the mask back over his face and took in a few struggled breaths.

"No, Greg. I don't know what you imagined, but I am not dead. _You _saved me."

Greg's eyes were wide now as he looked at Sara as if in a daze. He could not believe she was here saying this. It had seemed so real when Grissom had told him that Sara was dead, and yet here she was now. And he could also see everyone else standing off to the side now.

He slipped the mask off once again and grinned sheepishly and looked at the rest of them.

"You guys should… really stop playing… t..tricks on me."

It didn't make a whole lot of sense to any of them, but they laughed none-the-less because it was a sign that their Greg was still in there. Sara giggled with a little more passion than the rest, glad to see for herself that he was alive.

Greg put the mask back on himself and with one last look at Sara and the others, turned his head and fell asleep.

Sara, feeling satisfied, decided she would leave him alone now and let them both have time to rest.

She turned to her friends who understood that she was ready to get some rest and Warrick came up and started to take her back to her room.

As she was being wheeled away, she could honestly say that she felt better than she had in days; both her and Greg were well and alive, and yeah, Greg having pneumonia was bad, but it was nothing he couldn't handle.

That she was sure of.

* * *

**EN: **I told you it was nothing special. I originally had it longer, but I decided there wasn't enough going on in it for it to be this long. I promise the next one should be better and more in it. Thanks for reading and review if ya can! Later… 


	11. Go Fish

**AN: **Hey guys! So this may be the last one… Crazy, huh? I'll tell you what I mean by "might be" at the end, but anyways, if this _is _the last chapter, I really want to thank you guys for sticking with me even when I made you wait un-Godly amounts of time..

I will also say that I've got some of the best reviews I've ever gotten before, so thanks so much to you guys. And I've also had constructive ones, which are welcomed as well.

And I would like to say that I _really _enjoyed writing this chapter. It's much more lighthearted which I always think is necessary in fics and in real life. Laughter and smiles really brighten life.

**Warning: **A few bad words, mainly from Greg. None of them are said in a negative context, but I figure with all he's going through he's allowed to get a little dirtier with his language. I think most of you will be ok with it. No F-bomb though, rest assured.

**Random: **Listening to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody… gotta love Queen…

Have at it!

* * *

"You got a six?" 

Greg threw his cards down in frustration.

"That was the third one in a row you've called me on," he said in mock-anger. "Either you're a damn psychic, or you're cheating."

Nick grinned mischievously. "That's a very serious accusation, G. Now, do you have a six or not?"

Greg narrowed his eyes at him then threw the six at Nick who gracefully picked it up and smiled sweetly to Greg.

"I guess it's my turn _again,_" Nick taunted, taking a deep breath, he chose another card. "You wouldn't happen to have a two, now would you?"

This time, Greg threw the cards at Nick, who laughed loudly.

"You bastard," Greg retorted playfully, then went into a fit of coughs.

Nick felt bad, but tried not to show how much it pained him every time Greg would cough because he knew his friend didn't want the sympathy. After it passed and Greg caught his breath, he pulled away from it as though it was nothing. And truthfully, after two days of these coughs, they seemed to not phase him that much at all. Every now and then it would take a little longer to catch his breath or sometimes he would be hurting too bad and would just go to sleep.

But for the most part, he was doing a lot better than any of them thought he would do, and so soon.

"You are officially banned from Go Fish," he said breathlessly as he took a sip of his water.

Nick chuckled. "Oh and are you the Go Fish police?"

"As a matter of fact, I am," he responded boldly.

Nick rolled his eyes at his young friend. He still couldn't get over how well he was taking all of this sometimes, but he knew a lot of it was a show to make his friends feel better, and an attempt to trick the doctors into thinking that he was well enough for a discharge. But unfortunately, they weren't taking the bait. Greg had to stay in the ICU for another day or two, then the plan was to move him to a recovery room where they would observe his progress. So, he still had a little while until he was out of the hospital.

Nick was about to continue their light-hearted conversation when they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

He turned around to see Captain Jim Brass standing in the doorway.

"Hey Sanders," his said as warmly as he could.

Greg laughed silently at his attempt. He knew the man meant well, but he was crap at being all lovey-dovey, which was perfectly fine with Greg seeing as how he didn't want any of that anyway. But he still couldn't help but laugh at his effort, though he was thankful for it.

"How's Sara," Greg asked after giving him a little nod of welcome.

"Good. She's in physical therapy right now and its going well. She should be discharged within the next two days."

"Good." The truth was, Greg hadn't really seen her much since their initial reunion, of which he barely remembered. She had apparently come by a few times when he had been sleeping, and once she actually managed to come in when he was having a particularly rough time with the pneumonia and was being helped by several nurses. He had noticed her by the door, but then she had left and that was the last time he had seen her, and that was yesterday morning.

He hated that. He never wanted anyone to see him in his times of weakness because he truly hated the way it made others feel and the way they looked at him. But, it didn't really matter.

"How are _you_ feeling?" Brass countered, taking a seat next to Nick.

"I'm good," Greg answered. "But, I've come across a very disturbing realization about Nick here."

Brass turned to Nick who smiled evilly then shrugged. "What can I say? He made the mistake of showing me his cards and I wasn't about to give up the opportunity to see the look on his face."

Brass laughed. These two CSIs never failed to amaze him. This was actually his first time seeing Greg awake. He had only stopped by one other time when they were first brought in and talked to Sara about what had happened, and she had looked pretty good considering. And while Greg looked better than he did when he first came in, he still looked pale and sickly and had dark circles around his eyes.

But he had to give it to the kid, he was still smiling and making jokes and it takes guts to do that.

"So I take it you aren't here to play cards," Nick pondered out loud.

"That's actually a good idea," Greg said, perking up. "Having a cop in here to keep you straight." He finished, glaring in Nick's direction.

Brass laughed again. "No, I'm not here for the cards. Just wanted to get a summary of what happened if you're up to it."

Greg sighed in an over-the-top manner. "Alright, if I _have_ to," he replied as though he were a young kid trying to get out of cleaning his room.

"You want me to leave," Nick asked suddenly.

Greg looked at him like he was crazy. "Why?"

Nick shrugged. "I don't know, just wanted to throw it out there."

"Well you don't _have_ to stay if that's what you're getting at," Greg retorted.

"You know that's not what I was getting at, you fool."

Brass cleared his throat to end the friendly quarrel. "Well if you two are done with your lover's spat…"

Both Nick and Greg laughed, which sent Greg into another coughing fit. This being the first time Brass witnessed one, he was taken aback by the severity of it, or at least how it sounded. But what surprised him most is how fast the kid composed himself then began to talk.

"The uh…." He stopped and cleared his throat. He seemed to be feeling a little worse now after that last attack. "First thing I remember is waking up, then going down the hill, or cliff, or whatever it was."

Brass nodded and wrote down a few notes on his notepad. This was the first time Nick was hearing Greg's version of what happened and was really interested in hearing his take on it.

"We stayed in the car for the night, then figured we had to leave in the morning, so we went… left. Its funny, the only reason we went left was because Sara had taken a right at a fork in the road right before we went over, so I thought we'd give left a shot."

He took a struggled deep breath, then continued.

"I was wrong. There was nothing out that way, so we had to go back. But Sara had frostbite so…," he coughed again, temporarily halting the story. "Where was I," he asked after he got some control.

"Frostbite," Brass answered without looking up from his notes.

"Right. So… we took care of that and it started to get dark and I think I blacked out, but the next time I woke up, we were in the cave."

"What do you mean _we took care of that?_" Nick spoke up. He didn't mean to interrupt, but that was one of the things he had been wanting to hear Greg say.

Greg shrugged. "Well, I wrapped her feet up better, and then I couldn't let her walk so…"

"So you carried her," Brass interrupted sensing that the kid didn't want to come out and say it.

Greg laughed tiredly, his strength seeming to die down more and more by the second. "Ha, I _tried _to carry her. But like I said, I blacked out before we got anywhere, so I don't really know what happened…"

Brass nodded and Nick felt a little more satisfied with this answer.

Greg had to stop once more to let the coughing pass. After this one, he was more drained than he had been yet, and Nick saw it and it worried him.

"Hey Greg, we can finish this later, right Jim?"

Brass looked up from his notes and at Greg and saw that he was paler and weaker.

"Oh yeah, of course. No rush Sanders."

"No, it's cool, there isn't a whole lot more anyway."

Brass was about to let him continue when his beeper went off. He checked it quickly and was glad to have an official reason to leave and let Greg get some rest.

"We'll have to finish this later, kid. Sofia needs me on a case." He stood up and gave Nick a nod then turned to Greg. "Feel better, ok?"

He didn't stick around long after that, so Greg only smiled and waved as best he could.

"And then there was two," Nick said out of the blue.

Greg rolled his eyes at Nick. "You're so weird," he said quietly.

"_I'm _weird," Nick responded, raising his eyebrows. "You may be Mr. Cool and Efficient now, but I remember the crazy lab-rat Greg, markers up the nose and all."

Greg sighed and looked up as though he was reminiscing, then started coughing again. After this one, he reached for the breathing mask for the first time in over two hours.

"I think you need to rest now." It wasn't a question or even a suggestion, but had more of an order sound to it.

"Yeah.. But I want to enjoy you while you're here." Nick could hear the exhaustion in his voice, but was a little taken aback by what Greg had just said.

"What do you mean?"

Greg looked away and had an almost ashamed and embarrassed look plastered on his face. "I just.. Hate hospitals, you know? And it sounds like I'm gunna be here a while and it… well it will get lonely, so I figure I should enjoy you guys while you still have time to visit."

Nick frowned. This was the first time he had ever really seen Greg like this. It wasn't that he was being weak or child-like, but he seemed to genuinely fear the thought of being alone. And given what he had been through and what he was still going though, it didn't surprise Nick at all.

"I'm not going anywhere, G," Nick tried to say in a tone that didn't show his pity too much. "And the other's will be coming later, so you need to get some sleep so you can be awake for them," He said. "God knows I've seen enough of you awake," He added playfully to lighten the mood.

Greg smirked then allowed himself to start drifting off. And right before he fell asleep, he breathed out a small "Thanks."

Nick stayed in Greg's room for at least another hour until Catherine and Grissom showed up, at which time he decided he would stop by and check on Sara. He had been more than fine sitting with Greg and really didn't have any problems with staying a couple additional hours, but he figured he would leave Greg with Cath and Griss, and come back after a nap and his shift.

He went down to the second floor, which held the recovery rooms, and quickly located Sara's room. He found her sitting on her bed, on top of the covers, reading a book.

"Is it good," Nick asked, then laughed as she flinched and looked over to him.

She smiled to greet him. "Yeah, it's ok."

"How was physical therapy?"

Sara sighed. "It was pretty good I guess. I walked some today."

Nick raised his eyebrows. "That's good news."

They both nodded and sat through one of those awkward silences when both people want to say something, but neither one wants to break the ice.

"So," Sara started. "Have you been by to see Greg?"

Nick, thankful she was the one to start the conversation off, nodded. "Yeah, and he about attacked me for cheating."

Sara cocked her head at him and grinned. "He what?"

"He got mad because I was cheating at Go Fish."

Sara laughed now. "Really?" She actually did seem surprised when she said this, which made Nick wonder.

"Yeah… you know, I haven't really seen you up there…"

He saw the look on Sara's face and knew he had touched a nerve. She didn't seem angry, but he could definitely tell that it was something she had been thinking about as well.

"What's up," he asked as he took a seat next to her bed.

Sara put the book down. "What?" She replied normally. "Nothing's _up, _I just think he needs some time to rest is all."

Nick could tell there was something wrong, even though she was hiding it pretty well.

"Ok," he countered loudly as he put his hands up in the air in surrender.

She looked away from him for a moment, then turned back. She could tell he wanted to say something, wanted to continue the subject and even though she didn't want to, she gave in to his look anyway.

"What? What are you thinking," she asked a little annoyed. She had always seen Nick as being like a brother, or maybe just a really close best friend who's a guy, but either way, they had that special bond that told them what the other was feeling, and how far they could push one another. But the best part about their friendship was how honest they could be with each other.

"Nothing… I'm just surprised we're not have to pull you away from him is all," He said causally. "I mean, its not really a big deal or anything, but he won't stop asking about you and it.. Just seems odd, that's all. Usually after two people experience a life-changing event with each other, they become inseparable, but I haven't seen you up there since two days ago. It's just odd, Sara. I mean, if you are a little shell-shocked or afraid to go up there, that's fine. Take your time by all means, but if its something I can help with, then I want to be here."

Sara was shocked. She knew that she hadn't been going up to see Greg much, but she didn't know that it was that noticeable or unusual. She wasn't angry with Nick exactly, but the whole thought of Greg and what they had done together and how it had all ended up had been on her mind the whole time, and here he just went and said it like it was nothing.

"I'm not _afraid _to go up there, Nick," she began forcefully. "And I tried to go up there a couple of times but he was either asleep or… coughing up a storm, and frankly he doesn't need me up there to keep him awake or anything…"

"You still feel guilty, don't you," Nick replied, ignoring her attempts to stay away from that topic. He immediately saw her stiffen up and knew he had hit the head of the nail.

"Sara…"

"No, Nick. You don't understand. I know it wasn't my _fault, _but I sure as hell didn't do anything to help us out there. In fact, I probably only made things worse. The only good thing that I did was that I just happened to have food in my car, and that wasn't even intentional. So no, I'm not _blaming _myself, but I do feel bad that its me who's about to be released, while he's the one who did all of the work and is also the one that will be fighting pneumonia for another damn month!"

She ended heaving and her eyes filled with tears of frustration.

Nick had not wanted to upset her so bad and had not known that this was such a touchy subject for her, but he was glad that she had got it out before she started to regret her decisions too much.

"Sara," he said softly as he grabbed her hand. " I've already told you my theory on how much you did out there for him, but I'm beginning to think that the only thing that will help you is if you go up there and see him when he's awake. I mean, I'll be honest with you, the coughs are freaky, but other than that, he acts normal and he looks a lot better…" Nick trailed off, then remembered something Greg had said.

"You know, he just told me that he gets lonely here. I actually think he's afraid of hospitals," Nick began in a different tone. He could see Sara looking at him differently now as well, and knew that he was getting to her.

"Look, he's going to be here for at least another week or two, and you know Ecklie will not allow us much more time off, but you… You're going to be in a wheelchair…" He could really see her mind working now.

"If you really think that you owe him somehow, then you'll go sit with him when you can, because that's all he wants. And believe me, he doesn't see things the way you do. In fact, he doesn't even seem to think that him carrying you was a big deal."

Sara's eyes widened at this piece of information, and Nick couldn't help but feel proud of his amazing abilities to say all the right things.

"Look, just _talk _to him. I really think you'll be surprised."

Nick stood up from his chair, then leaned down and gave Sara a hug.

"I've got eight hours before my shift begins and I'm tired so, I'll see you tomorrow, ok?"

Sara smiled. "Yeah," she said, and as he began to walk away, she added: "And thanks, Nick."

He just gave her a little wink and was off.

Grissom and Catherine had only been in Greg's room for a little over an hour before he woke up, though he didn't make it known to everyone. In fact, when he woke up, he saw that Cath and Grissom were playing with the cards that he and Nick had been using earlier, and decided to have some fun with it.

They way Grissom and Catherine were sitting allowed for only Catherine to see him because Grissom's back was to Greg. However, Greg could see Grissom's cards and when Catherine noticed he was awake, Greg put one finger up to his mouth to tell her not to say anything.

When it was her turn to ask Grissom for a card, Greg carefully held up three fingers.

Catherine smiled slightly but acted as though she had seen nothing and asked Grissom for a three. Grissom reluctantly handed it over, and then Greg held up five fingers.

"You got a five," Catherine asked with a grin.

Grissom didn't say anything at first and Greg could tell that he was catching on to her mischievous look. But he handed over the five.

Now when Greg looked at Grissom's cards, he realized that the remaining ones were all over five, which meant he would have to use the other arm. And when he tried to bring the other arm to make seven fingers, Catherine got confused.

"Um… a…. five..? Again?" She then started laughing and Grissom turned around to see Greg giggling.

"Greg. Did you just help Catherine cheat," he asked sounding surprised.

Greg shrugged and continued grinning. "Just remind me to tell Nick I forgive him. It really is fun to cheat."

Grissom shook his head and turned his chair so that he was facing Greg now.

"How you feeling," Catherine asked, also pulling her chair closer.

"I'm delightful, and how about you two?"

"We're good," Grissom answered.

"That's good. Man I can't wait to get out of here," Greg said looking around.

"Out of the ICU or just the hospital?"

"Hospital mainly. But it will be nice to get out of here too. At least in the recovery rooms they have tv's."

Catherine and Grissom chuckled. Leave it to Greg to find pleasure in the smaller things.

"Speaking of which, some reporters are wanting to interview you and Sara at some point." Grissom said, earning an eye-brow raise from Greg.

"Reporters? For what?"

And then Grissom remembered that the mediahadn't been there when Greg arrived and he had not been watching tv, so it really wasn't abnormal for Greg to not realize that people all over had been following his and Sara's story.

Catherine laughed. "Um, the reporters that have been going on and on about you and Sara. At first, it was just that you guys were missing, but once they found out you two had been living out in the snow, it suddenly turned into a survival story, and you know how the public eats those up."

"Hmm… that's pretty weird," Greg responded absentmindedly.

"Yeah, don't worry about it now," Grissom spoke up, then looked down to his watch. "Well, I hate to cut our visit short, but we have to go."

"I understand, you important people have got places to be." Greg said light-heartedly.

"No, we just don't have the pleasure of lying around in a hospital all day," Catherine said playfully.

"Pleasure? Is that what it is…" he didn't finish due to another cough attack, but after it passed, they said their goodbyes.

Now Greg was alone and was none to happy about it. He wasn't even tired anymore so it wasn't like he could just go to sleep or anything.

He reached over and got his water then picked up the cards and started to play with them. He couldn't manage to play solitaire, the only one person card game he knew, so he decided he would put them in order instead.

He wasn't too far into it when he heard a small knock on the door frame. He turned and was pleased to see Sara staring back at him. She was in a wheelchair, which caught him off guard, but he got over it quickly and smiled real big for her.

The man-nurse that had accompanied her up there kindly patted her shoulder then left, leaving Sara sitting oddly in the middle of the room, staring at Greg. She looked good, which pleased Greg more than anything. And he wondered how he looked. He hadn't had the chance to look at himself at all and he guessed on top of the fact that he was disgustingly pale, his hair probably wasn't in too good a shape either/

"Sara! What a lovely surprise," He said happily. He had been wanting to see her when he was awake and not having a coughing fit, so it really was quite nice.

She smiled nervously then rolled up a little closer to him, but was still in the middle of the room. Nick was right, he did look a little healthier but not nearly as much as she would have liked.

Greg started to feel weird when she didn't say anything. He could tell something was off with her, but he couldn't put his finger down on what.

"You uh, ok?" He asked, unsure of how to put it otherwise.

Sara perked up, not expecting the question. She was still feeling uncomfortable around him, even though he seemed delighted to see her, and he picked right up on it. Was she seriously that easy to read?

"Yeah, why do you ask," she responded as casually as she could, trying to brush it off.

Greg narrowed his eyes at her then turned away.

"No reason, you just seem different is all," he answered, turning back to her.

"How so?"

"Well for one, you're sitting in the middle of the room still, and for two, you won't look at me for more than two seconds," he said, now sounding a little worried. "You aren't mad, are you," he asked, sounding like he had done something wrong.

Sara was shocked. How could _she _be mad at _him?_ She dropped her shy, nervous little shell she had come in with, and decided to be honest with him.

"Me? Mad at you? I have no right to be!"

Greg stared at her for a moment, analyzing her until he seemed to figure something out, and when he did, he rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Holy cow, you _still _feel guilty something?!"

She sat speechless. She really must be easy to read because both Nick and Greg had pinpointed the problem right away. She then watched in horror as he started coughing and only felt worse by the end of it.

"I.. I shouldn't be here," she began, then started to wheel backwards.

"The hell you shouldn't!" Greg exclaimed, still trying to catch his breath. "Sara, we have already been over this! There is _no one _to blame for what happened, and you should know that by now. So I'm hoping its something else. Please tell me its something else."

Sara stopped when she heard the desperation in his voice. He wanted to talk about this and he wanted to know, so she gave in.

"It's not really that… its just that, well you… did a lot out there. I just… didn't…"

Greg started laughing, which shocked Sara and made her stop fumbling around for words.

"You're upset about _that_? That's why you didn't come see me? Aw, Sara. You did a lot out there whether you know it or not, and God knows you would have done a lot more if you could've."

"How do you know that Greg? I mean, my feet were hurting, so what?! You were sick as a dog and you had to… _carry me around,_" she spat out disgustedly.

Greg was no longer laughing, but he still didn't look convinced at what she was saying.

"Oh you're completely right, Sara because you're a woman, and women are inferior," He said sarcastically. "God Sara, you are one of the most beautiful, yet tough and manly women I know, no offence. Hell, you're probably tougher than I am, but even Achilles had a weak spot, and it just so happens that both of your weak spots are your feet. Now, one of us had to step up to the plate, so I did. But only because you couldn't. And I know you would have done the same if it were the other way around."

"You want something to blame," he continued. "Blame those shoes you wore."

As she tried to catch and process all of what he had said, he went through another coughing fit that he had apparently been putting off until he got out all of his speech.

"My shoes?" She asked, puzzled.

"Yeah, if you would have worn shoes that would have kept out the moisture, you wouldn't have got frostbite that bad, and then you would have been the one carrying _me _around. So you see, its all the shoes fault, unless you want to blame yourself for putting on warm shoes too…? Now stop being all girly and get over here and play some damn cards." He finished with a childish grin.

She didn't know what to make of it. He seemed so sure of himself and of everything that had happened. She admired him, she really did. She could've kept arguing with him, telling him he was wrong and how she still felt like it was all her fault. But that wasn't what he wanted because he seemed to know the truth, and Sara would just have to believe him.

She rolled herself up as close as she could get now, feeling much better now that she was with him and he was acting pretty close to normal.

"Will it be Go Fish, then?" She asked, looking at him with a silly grin.

"Ah, you've been talking to our cheater friend, I see…" he replied as he began to deal out the cards.

Sara just smiled and nodded.

"So, _I _heard you're gunna be out of this hell-whole soon. You got a four?"

"Go Fish. Yeah, but I'm going to be here a lot anyways. You got a nine?"

"Bitch," he said playfully and threw the nine at her. "Why? Man, I would stay at least a hundred yards from the place at all times if I could."

"I should hit you for calling me a bitch, and I have to stay around here because I have a dire need to play cards with annoying dirty-mouthed patients. You have a three?"

Greg smiled and looked at her with such admiration. She was so strong in his eyes, even if she didn't see it herself, and if he had to be stuck out in the snow or on a desert island with anyone, he would choose her every time.

"Go Fish."

* * *

**End Notes: **Yay!! See, I know I could technically have a wrap-up chapter, but I personally love the way this one ended. I guess if I get a bunch of people demanding a wrap-up, then I'll do it because I'm here for you guys mainly, but I really do like this chapter. So, thanks so much guys for reading and hopefully I will think up another storyline to write again. Hope to see you all soon! 


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